Bowling Alone - No Fun. Bowling with Friends? When and Where?
I miss this kind of stuff.
A pitcher of beer and six glasses. Paper score sheets and sharp pencils. A thud, the Doppler effect, and a crash. Funny colored shoes. Air blowers. Clapping, cheering, and laughter. One of the glasses was for me, and the other five were for my friends. Because we only bowl with people we enjoy being around, right? I don’t get to do this after work anymore – not over the last two decades.
It started when I was young. Like, around nine years old. My brother and I used to walk down to a bowling alley on 19th Street in Niagara Falls on Saturdays for the kids' league. We lived only a block away, but I couldn’t walk there alone. It was called Central Lanes (I think). My brother and I watched it burn to the ground in the early 1980’s. After the fire was out, we’d walk through the place, finding half-burnt pins and such. Man, I wish I had thought to keep one of those.
AI Nailed This One! Actually Gave Me Chills.
There are a few different kinds of bowling – my fave being the big heavy ball variety. It is too hard to get a strike in Candlepin, sorry, Boston. But finding a real bowling alley is getting challenging – at least around here. Some, like Kings, don’t have the dots in the correct places, which messes me up. Another that I went to had pins that were on ropes, and the lanes weren’t oiled properly, if at all. And when in God’s name did it cost $150 to toss a few stings?
Even if I were so lucky as to find a place up in some small town in New Hampshire that still slings pitchers, has a jukebox, and the balls aren’t all fluorescent colors – how on earth could I get a crew to go? These days, getting a group of four for dinner is even too hard – it takes a month of planning. Then, when the big night comes, someone has to bail. The good lanes are too far away, and getting a crew together just isn’t easy – or maybe it is just at this age. When everyone has time to bowl again, we’ll be too old to fling the heavier rocks – and we might even need the bumpers.
Bowling alleys have long been a staple of our fun, serving as gathering spots for families, friends, and leagues. Bowling, the experience of bowling, and the role of bowling alleys in our communities have undergone significant changes over the years. When I was in my program at UMASS, I read the book Bowling Alone by Robert Putnam. It was about the decline of social capital and community engagement in America, using the decline of bowling league participation as a metaphor for the broader disconnection in society. This decline begs the question: Why isn't bowling as fun as it used to be?
This is how bowling alleys compete with the iPhone, XBOX, and Facebook
Bowling alleys were places where people from all walks of life came together to form leagues and participate in tournaments. The atmosphere was electric, filled with laughter, the crash of pins, and the chatter of competitive and friendly banter. Bowling alleys were community centers, fostering social connections and building social capital. Participation in bowling leagues was high, and the activity was more about socializing than the sport itself.
As technology advanced and entertainment options expanded, the appeal of spending evenings or weekends in bowling leagues has almost disappeared. The rise of home entertainment systems, video games, and the internet offers individualized leisure activities, diminishing the need to seek social interaction in communal spaces like bowling alleys. Look at your kids sitting in a room with other kids. All of them are on their phones, not even talking to one another. We need an old-school bowling alley!
Bowling alleys have had to adapt to remain relevant in response to these changes. Many have transformed from purely bowling-focused venues to multi-entertainment complexes, offering arcades, laser tag, gourmet food, and craft beverages. While these changes have attracted a new generation of patrons, the experience has shifted from a communal, league-oriented activity to a more casual, often solitary, entertainment option. The social fabric that once made bowling alleys vibrant community centers has thinned, reflecting broader societal trends towards individualism and away from community engagement.
Just thinking about it, the last time I found a bowling alley that fit the bill, I was with my ex-wife, son, and step-kids. I had this happy nostalgia thing going on; my ex-wife was on Facebook on her phone, and the kids wanted to go to the car to get their iPads. Good times. This memory exemplifies my concerns about the erosion of connection in general. This change affects not just how we entertain ourselves but also how we engage with our communities. The decline of fun (at least for me) activities like bowling leagues leads to losing opportunities to build trust, cooperation, and collective well-being.
Bowling Alone is quite a metaphor. Just as bowling alleys have changed from gathering spaces to individualized entertainment centers, schools face a similar shift in how students engage with each other and the learning process. The rise of technology in education, while offering personalized learning experiences, also runs the risk of isolating students from one another and the broader school community. This isolation can mirror the disconnection seen in the decline of social gatherings like bowling, highlighting the importance of fostering a sense of community and belonging within our schools.
Our challenge is to find the balance between leveraging technology for educational advancement and preserving the communal spirit that fosters student social capital. Encouraging participation in group activities, team sports, and other school-wide events can serve as the modern equivalent of the bowling leagues of yesteryear, promoting interpersonal skills, teamwork, and a sense of belonging. By drawing lessons from the evolution of bowling alleys and the insights of the Bowling Alone Book, we can create an educational environment that prepares students academically and nurtures the social bonds and community engagement essential for a well-rounded education and a cohesive society.