So, what's with all these kids zooming around on electric scooters?  Do their legs not work?  What's going on here?

File this rant under: reverse culture shock.

And probably also file it under: old man yells at cloud, but...

I first began to notice these electric scooters when I was in Vietnam.  Young people would use them to zoom from their apartment building to the gate to pick up delivery items.  I used to make sarcastic comments to my wife, like, "What's the matter with him?  Do his legs not work?"

At the time I just wrote it off as a Vietnamese thing, but since I've returned home to America, I've noticed lots of able-bodied young people zooming around on park trials on electric bikes or electric scooters.  And I can't really understand it.

I guess I can understand it from the kid's perspective.  Kids love zooming on stuff, and they don't care about things like exercise or carbon footprints.

But what are the parents thinking?  (I'm assuming in most cases the parents are the ones who paid for these things.)  Did the parents see these things in the store and think, "Oh, great!  Now my kids can get even less exercise while increasing their carbon footprint at the same time!"

I mean, we are facing an obesity crisis and an environmental crisis at the same time.  Why did we humans think it was a good idea to make it so young people can bike and scooter while using up electricity and not moving at all?

I should note I also see a fair amount of people in their 20s on electric bikes or electric scooters, and I think by the time you're in your 20s, you should really know better.  You know about carbon footprints.  You know about the value of exercise.  Use your own legs!

Addendum: I have no issue with anyone who actually has a mobility issue and uses these.  I'm just talking here about the mass adaptation of these things as a kind of general use for everyone.