Over the last two years I’ve spent in Gainesville exploring the University of Florida nightlife scene, it has become evident that the nighttime scene has shifted dramatically. While growing up, we gained expectations for what a night out in college looked like based on what the generations before us had done. The people of Gen X – born between 1965-1980 – set a scene where you spent the entire night clubbing and some kind of substance was always involved. Genres like punk and grunge defined the music scene, and venues often served as cultural hubs for experimentation.
As for the millennials – those born between 1981-1996 – after the introduction of platforms like Facebook and Instagram, nightlife exploded into a variety of options including bars, clubs, lounges, and unique experiences like themed parties. Not only did people set the scene for us, but the content that we consumed growing up painted college nights as a never-ending party full of substances and chaos. While I cannot deny that plenty of nights out for those of us in Gen Z involve chaos and some substances, we have initiated a shift that causes the nightlife scene to be more inclusive, creative, and connected.
Social media, of course, plays a huge role in how we discover and engage with nightlife. Platforms like TikTok influence how venues promote their events and market themselves. Not only that, but the access that we have to the digital world created a life in which staying in can be more fun than going out. Living in a society where a night out can cost the same as a grocery trip, we have found innovative ways to socialize in more cost-effective ways while still having fun. An article published in The Manitoban says that “with the cost of living, splurging on expensive nights out has become less appealing, forcing our generation to adapt.” These adaptations have involved finding more unique and immersive experiences such as themed pop-ups, interactive art shows, markets, or music festivals. Along with that, our generation has allowed for a night scene that prioritizes inclusive and welcoming spaces and pushes venues to reflect these same values.
After all this change, the question is, are we enjoying it as much as we say we are? Everyone experiences some kind of nostalgia for their younger days, but we seem to be experiencing nostalgia for “younger days” that we never even had. NBC News published an article in which they discuss our feeling of nostalgia over an era of clubbing we never experienced. The author establishes that while growing up and learning to use the internet to socialize was positive, these online platforms have made it “difficult to translate those social skills offline.” As we try to replicate the nights out that were presented to us through early 2000’s music and media we are running into a wall that we didn’t anticipate. From experience, I can tell you that a Friday night out in Gainesville is nothing like what Kesha made me think it was going to be like. It isn’t uncommon for a night out in a downtown club to be lackluster at best. With a lack of offline social skills, the night scene we all imagined isn’t coming to life. Instead, we are seeing people standing still on the dancefloor and waiting in a long line for the bathroom.
With seemingly mixed emotions as to what Gen Z nightlife should look like we are running into issues on both ends. Those spending the night in their apartment with friends feel some kind of FOMO at the thought of missing the “college experience” they thought they’d be having. On the other hand, those who act on their desire to have a wild night out see an unfortunate turnout and response when they do so. Overall, the problem seems to be loneliness. A recent Gallup study said that 57% of people aged 19 to 29 feel lonely in any way, which is more than every other age group. Growing up with smartphones and social media has led to a preference for online communication, which can make in-person interactions feel daunting and the pandemic didn’t help that feeling at all.
So, is there a way to turn the scene around? Yes, I think that there is a way to find a perfect medium between the two. I believe that some of us, especially those coming into college in the last few years, have really tried to do just that. Maya Cvetkovic, a junior here at UF, says she definitely does miss the club vibe and hopes to see a resurgence of dancing and good party music but will always be a fan of immersive experiences that allow us to relive our childhood compared to simply standing around in a sticky bar as an excuse to get out of the house. Leaning into the chaotic vibes of the music we listened to growing up will be good for all of us, but as we move through college, we can work to find that happy medium in which we are also satisfying our modern ideals and shallow pockets. Creating our own nightlife scene involves compromise, something everyone could learn a little bit about.