More from the 2021 article...

... Whenever Gen Z culture is discussed, it tends to be through the lens of technology " TikTok crazes, YouTube drama or Clubhouse debates. But this insinuates that young people are merely two-dimensional beings whose only real relationship is with a screen. Which, of course, it is not.

During the creation of a podcast series about teenagers, called You Don't Know Me, I became fascinated with the question of what Gen Z do, when they're not locked down and online, and actually out in the world? It was a bit of a bleak picture " they inhabit something of a cultural wasteland, where the appeal of pubs and clubs has dwindled, money is tight and where social spaces designed for teenagers have all but vanished.

But there was one destination that came up so frequently and in such colourful detail, particularly for teenagers from poorer backgrounds, that it began to seem like an undiscovered subculture. It's what I came to christen "Airport Culture". ...

OK, I was in a checkout line at a local department store. I overheard to twenty-somethings talking (not difficult to overhear, they were not tying to be soft in their voices).

One asked the other about her plans for Friday evening. The response was short and simple, "the airport."

Wait, what?!?!?! Or maybe, more appropriate for my reaction, WTF???

So I popped int my search engine of choice and found things.

But, I still wonder, were those two having fun with me?