Ask just about any young person where the teen hang-out spots are and they’ll tell you it’s the mall. But with the evolving economy and development of new strip malls, many old malls have lost their grandeur and their young consumers. The kNOw writers share their perspective on the declining popularity of some malls and its impact on youth.
The Place To Connect
One of the biggest factors in youth culture is going to the mall. Malls are places where youth shop, socialize and connect. There have been times that my friends and I have had a lasting conversation over a hot latte and the atmosphere of the mall. It’s at the mall that youth can stay in touch.
They can get the hottest trends. Eat and talk much as much as we want. The mall brings excitement. When we are walking in the atmosphere it feels right. Walking around with friends or family or both, it’s just something to do in Fresno. If the malls where shut down many people would be disappointed. We would just find somewhere else to flock.
-Laqusha, 21
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The Mall Is Dead
Teen girls obsessed with shopping. They have to fix up their wardrobe and look pretty for the teenage boys. Teenage boys obsessed with dolled-up teenage girls obsessed with shopping. What does this obsession have to do with anything? Simple. The answer is the mall.
The mall is an addiction drug to many youth because of its many uses: to satisfy the shopping desires, to answer the mating calls of puberty, and to even getting a bite to eat. Now what would happen if this youth empire fell? Would the teenage queens and kings go down with it? Of course it would if that’s all that youth cared about.
There other ways to have fun in Fresno even though it may seem like there isn’t much to do but there is. Movies, bowling, sports, restaurants, Chaffee Zoo, the park, swimming, dancing, and most importantly the brain-draining power of T.V. Don’t just rely on the mall, go out and have fun.
-Victoria, 16
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Shopping And Socializing
If all the malls in Fresno were to slowly diminish then I wouldn’t know what to do because the mall is the place where I not only go to shop but socialize with my friends. It’s as if our hangout place would be destroyed. It would also be hard to meet new people because the social area would be gone. Yeah, there are movie theaters but I highly doubt that people would want to be bothered while they are trying to watch a movie and there would be nothing to do after you get out of the movies because there is a mall basically by every movie theater out there.
Not only my social network would be diminished but also the places where I buy all my clothes too since more than 90% of my clothes come from the mall. I would then have to resort to either shopping at department stores or result in shopping online and be forced to pay a large amount of money to cover the shipping and handling expenses when I could have just easily bought them in the mall without all that hassle.
-Gracie, 16
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More To Do?
I believe that if all malls got shut down I would start shopping on the internet and I would start going to places like the bowling alley, or the ice skating rink. I would be at home playing video games more often, and I would be at friends’ houses more often. I actually believe if the malls ceased to exist, there would be more things for youth to do.
-Kevis, 18
In 2006, over 25 youth began participating in weekly after-school writing workshops where they congregated in the hallway of a two-story building in West Fresno and learned the essentials of creating media and telling their stories. The group evolved over the next five years and is now proudly recognized as The kNOw Youth Media.
Through our program, we create opportunities for our youth participants, who in turn create long-term positive change in their communities. Our approach weaves youth development and youth media innovation to produce our biannual youth publication, multimedia projects, and community forums.
The kNOw began as a project of New America Media, which was the country’s first and largest national collaboration and advocate of 2000 ethnic news organizations. In 2018 The kNOw became a project of Youth Leadership Institute.
