Why do you think hanging around in malls with friends and family is on the rise?
Today most of the people are seen spending their weekends or evenings and even mornings in malls. When it comes to spending your weekend with friends and family, shopping mall comes to many as their first choice. The best place to spend your weekend is nothing but a shopping mall of late. With lack of public places that are safe and at the same time interesting, shopping malls have become the in thing today. So do you think it is bad or good, let’s find out.
What do you think a shopping mall is- to most of us who are in the late 20s or early 30s; a shopping mall is a place where you go for shopping.
Hanging out in a shopping mall –advantages:
It is a one stop destination where people can go as a family, as a couple, or with friends, without having to worry about food, shopping- be it clothes, shoes, or grocery items, or simply sitting and sipping a cup of coffee. In fact you don’t have to worry if you need to use the wash room or your baby accidently poops or needs to pee/poop; we all know we have clean toilets and lavatories at our disposal. In fact you don’t have to pay even for parking your vehicle, it is free! You can indulge in window shopping to your heart’s content before you actually spend money on buying things.
Teenagers use the shopping mall as the way to run into the opposite sex, indulge in chance meeting. In our country where hanging out with friends of opposite sex is not prohibited but at the same time it is not encouraged either. On the pretext of meeting a friend, boys and girls often go to meet the people of opposite sex, and this desire is fulfilled by visiting malls.
In addition, it is often considered and seen as a safe place where you are with a person alone and at the same time there are lots of other people around, in case you run into any kind of trouble, there are always staff, security guards or common public who can come to your rescue when asked for help.
Malls also serve as the best hangout during rainy season, when most of the places, parks, and play areas are filled with water; a mall offers a clean place to be in. Malls these days offer carry carts, prams, and toy cars for keeping your hands free of toddlers and preschoolers. They have dedicated toy trains which cater to the enjoyment of babies, toddlers, and small kids.
Also, almost all the malls have inbuilt food services that offer a myriad of food starting from junk to healthy food. Even if the food that is offered is not healthy it can satiate your hunger. Also they house coffee shops too. Some malls offer multiplex, where several movies are screened at a time. So, if you plan for a movie with friends and later go on for shopping, a mall serves both these purposes, without having to waste fuel in doing back and forth from one place to the other, you can get everything under one roof.
Hanging out in a shopping mall – disadvantages:
While almost all the advantages are offered in terms of safety and comfort and everything is at your finger tips, shopping malls have a down side to it too. Peer pressure can make you indulge in impulsive buying or shopping. In case some teenagers are unable to buy things due to lack of adequate cash, they might have bickering among each other and this can lead to shoplifting at times.
Chances are that if you are a teenager and spend most evenings in a mall, it can attract the attention of people who have an evil disposition, so it is best to hang out with few reliable friends and always good to keep your parents informed about your whereabouts, lest you are in trouble, they can come to help you.
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