From ages 16 through 36, I lived in Cambridge, MA and then Manhattan, and didn't own a car. (I of course rented cars on business trips, and borrowed my parents'

From ages 16 through 36, I lived in Cambridge, MA and then Manhattan, and didn't own a car. (I of course rented cars on business trips, and borrowed my parents' when I visited them.) What I missed most in not having wheels was convenience in shopping and so on. Groceries aside, that's now largely obviated by e-commerce. And grocery shopping alone is hardly a reason to have a car ... Now easier rentals -- Zipcar! -- raise a whole other reason not to own one's own car. Further, there was an era when cars provided teenagers with private space, a bit of a chance for sexual exploration, and so on. When both their parents have jobs, however, that's less needed. That's reason #1 much of the "romance" of cars is gone. Reason #2 is that electronic items have supplanted cars as major aspirations. Phones, computers, etc. are gateways to the world the way automobiles used to be. Reason #3 (small but still worth mentioning) that cars lost their romance is their boring, aerodynamically-wise designs. Reason #4, related, is the environmentalist pushback against cars.