Driving a car is no longer “the rite of passage” it once was. The Federal Highway Administration has found that the percentage of 16-year-olds with driver’s licenses has dropped from 46% in 1983 to 25% in 2014 and has likely fallen further since. To start, cars are more expensive and less easy to fix, and driver’s licenses are increasingly difficult to get. Beyond the technicalities, smartphones have become a source of virtual freedom for today’s teens—replacing cars as a way to escape “the constraints of family.” (The Atlantic)
