Can the Internet Really Kill Cars?

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The University of Michigan just released a study citing that while a third of all licensed drivers were under the age of 30 in 1983, today's teenagers and 20-somethings only constitute about 22 percent of drivers. Their research concludes that?"More young adults today would rather hit the information highway than the open highway."

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The whole thing got me thinking (and reminiscing) about my first foray into four-wheeled freedom, which began with the '88 Mustang GT Convertible seen here (5-speed manual, of course.) Even when I was 16, I knew I was lucky to have this steed at my disposal, but the big picture context is key: faced between the option of hanging out at school to play a driving game on a?Macintosh II and hitting the open road, the choice was easy. Back then, few things could compete with a snarling engine.

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I'd like to think my preference was based on a gravitation to the visceral joys of motoring, but then again, it's not as simple as comparing the technologically nascent 1980s with our current cornocupia of virtual distractions. After all, is it even fair to mention Pole Position in the same breath as Gran Turismo 5? Heck, considering how much time I spend on Twitter these days, it's a minor miracle that I manage to get behind the wheel at all.

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There's no crystal ball to predict if kids will continue to lose interest in real world driving, and given the endless distractions available to the Facebook generation, there's certainly less incentive than ever to forgo the digital world. At least a new crop of affordable, fun to drive sports cars like the Subaru BRZ and its Toyota/Scion counterparts?are making a noble effort to lure teenagers away from computer screens and back into the real world. Cheap four-wheeled thrills certainly won't make iPhones obsolete, but attainable sports cars just might recapture some of the magic of driving that's in short order these days.

Source: http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/news/auto-blog/can-the-internet-kill-cars?src=rss

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