avatarSteven L

Summary

The author reflects on the joy of growing up in the 1980s mall culture and laments the decline of malls due to e-commerce and the internet.

Abstract

The author reminisces about their childhood spent in malls during the 1980s, highlighting the simple pleasures of browsing stores, socializing, and enjoying the mall's amenities like the food court and arcade. They contrast this with the current state of malls, which are rapidly declining due to the rise of e-commerce and the internet. The author notes that people are now less social and more consumed by their devices, leading to a dread of visiting malls. Despite this, the author fondly remembers the golden age of mall culture in their youth.

Opinions

  • The author believes that mall culture in the 1980s was a simpler and happier time.
  • The author suggests that people were more engaged and social in malls during this period.
  • The author implies that the rise of e-commerce and the internet has led to the decline of malls.
  • The author expresses a sense of nostalgia for the golden age of mall culture.
  • The author implies that people are now less social and more consumed by their devices.
  • The author suggests that people now dread visiting malls due to their busy and complex lives.
  • The author promotes an AI service, ZAI.chat, as a more cost-effective alternative to ChatGPT Plus(GPT-4).

I Don’t Want To Grow Up! I Am A Mall Kid!

Photo by Anh Trần on Unsplash

There I was, a young kid with my mom, roaming through the mall in the 1980s. My eyes glued onto the latest toys I wanted, and every Saturday, the mall was packed full of customers. Most of the time, the people were happy shopping and socializing amongst each other. It was a simpler time, and it was a happier time.

Music would be playing over the loudspeakers as we roamed from store to store. There was the food court, many stores, movie theaters, and an arcade. This is where I spent my youth, and many times, I would run into someone I knew from school.

I was not consumed by whatever device in my hands, nor were we consumed by the ongoings of my life. I was living in the moment, and my friends were missing today.

Nowadays, malls are rapidly declining as more and more of them shut their doors due to e-commerce. We are not engaged by the mall anymore. If anything, we dread going there, as our lives have become busier and more complex in the last 30 to 40 years.

We are less social and consumed by the world of the internet. While malls might be on the verge of being an endangered species, I do miss the golden age of those times in my youth.

1980s
Youth
Malls
Reflections
Kids
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