"Hanging Out" at the Mall

The first thing I think when I hear the word “Mall” is of punk skateboarders texting their friends, girls carrying hand bags stuffed to the brim with the latest in fashion, and a guy, hand in hand with his girlfriend, dragged through countless stores for no apparent reason. The Mall has become a hang out for the youth in our society. Friday night comes along, and school is out. The young people leave their homework for another time. Putting on heavy makeup, jelling back their hair, and wearing the coolest cloths, they head off to their weekend hang out; their home away from home: the mall.

I don’t think it is beneficial for the youth to hang out at the mall in their free time. In fact, in most cases, it is a total waste of time. Such ventures provide the younger generation with ample opportunity to be foolish and to gain bad habits for their adult life.

First of all, hanging out in malls can create rebellious teens. Let me give you a hypothetical example. Consider two young boys walking through a mall. They are free to go wherever they want and to look at whatever they desire. What’s to stop them from playing an “M” rated game that they know their moms would never approve of, or buying a few bad music CD’s, or going into some stores that they shouldn’t. They might even become apart of the wrong crowd. Suddenly stealing would become an option. Eventually their minds would be totally corrupted from all the bad influence, resulting in anger and rebellion which could devastate those around them.

Secondly, hanging out in malls can be a cause of bad financial habits for the future. Another scenario comes to my mind when I think of young people in a mall. Consider two young girls. Dressed up in pretty skirts, purses hung over their shoulders, the two make a trip to every store imaginable. If they happen to have a debit or credit card, the sky is the limit to their purchases. One pair of genes multiplies into several. One pair of shoes becomes two pairs. Ten dollars spent turns in to one hundred dollars spent. Suddenly they find themselves in a situation of major overspending. Now, overspending might not be the end of the world for these young girls. But what happens when they become adults and have a family of their own? Their husbands might be the only ones earning money, and might not even have a very big income. Suddenly fifty dollars out of the bank account could mean a month of only beans and rice or, worse, a life on the streets. Why should young people create bad habits that will affect them when they are adults?

Lastly, hanging out in malls eliminates the possibility of gaining skills. Imagine a group of youth going in and out of stores, spending endless ours looking at anything from phones to binge bag chairs. Half of the time they’ll stand around texting their friends about some cute guy, or the latest movie. In the end, they really don’t accomplish much for themselves. Yes, their time was spent enjoying friends and fooling around, but they missed out on learning something new. By “Something new” I don’t mean, “What new movie Gerard butler played in” or “the latest gossip about so and so”, but “How to cook” “How to fix a bike or car” “How to hang up blinds” “How to make a garden” “How to repair damages on a house” or less practical things like “how to defend one’s self against an attacker”, “how to weave a basket” “how to put together and fly an electric plane” “how to write a book” “how to run a marathon without having a heart attack” and other countless skills. Allowing the youth to roam around in malls creates a society of lazy, boring people.

Before I end this article I want to give a few positive words to the opposing view point. It isn’t all bad for youth to hang out at malls in their free time. But they must do so in moderation. Water is good and necessary for everyone, but when taken in excess it can kill. Spending some time in a mall is fine but if the younger generation is consumed in a life at the mall, trouble will arise. It may even cause permanent, future damage. So I am not completely against mall shopping as long as it is limited and, if possible, supervised.