Are Today's Kids Killing Off School Dances With Their Shocking Disinterest?

It's no secret that times change, and you could argue that they've never changed faster than they are now. However, there are certain things that I am convinced will never see their popularity wane.

Blue jeans. Dogs. Saying, "Looks like we got here just in time," when you get in line for something and it fills up behind you.

And I would've put school dances on that list too, but some youngsters at a school in New Jersey are proving me wrong.

How… how could this be?

I thought that the act of throwing on a crisp Van Heusen dress shirt from Kohl's and one of your dad's ties to maybe slow dance with the cute girl in your physics class would never go out of style. 

But apparently, at Wall Township High School in New Jersey, it has.

The school announced that it was canceling its homecoming dance due to low ticket sales, like it's a Corey Feldman stadium tour or something.

"No one is gonna be there. Like, it's not gonna be fun or anything," senior Joey Ambrozi said, according to CBS News.

Hang on… What part of awkwardly standing in the gymnasium on a Saturday night, nursing a Dixie cup of sore brand fruit punch with a trembling hand, and trying to work up the courage to ask your crush to dance with you doesn't sound like fun?

Actually… he might have a point.

Rest in Peace, School Dances. (Getty Images)

What Is To Blame?: Phones? Anti-Social Weirdos?

But it sounds like it isn't just that kids were noping out of this dance; they've checked out on the whole idea.

Ambrozi said that it could be that kids would rather be on their phones.

"It's true, to be honest. Like you look around and everyone is on their phone 24/7," he said.

Now, I went to high school in the early 2010s, which, to the youths of today, might sound like we were dancing to the Glen Miller Orchestra instead of Florida and Ke$ha, but we still had phones. Smartphones that could do most of what they do today, just not quite as well.

Kids were still glued to them in class, but I promise you, if most were told, "Hey, you can dance with the girl you have a crush on from your AP US History class if you get rid of that brick-like iPhone 4," they wouldn't hesitate to wing it into the creek behind the school.

You could explain that to your parents later; you had some awkward, swaying, slow-dancing to do.

However, psychologist Matthew Strobel told the outlet that it's not that kids don't want to socialize; they just do it differently.

"Kids are incredibly over-programmed at this point in time," he said. "Smaller, more informal groups -- that's where they're feeling more comfortable. There's less pressure in those groups. I think a lot of that has to do with social media influence."

Social media, huh?

That's probably it. I'm sure it doesn't have anything to do with this being the generation of kids who were stuck at home instead of going to school for a couple of years during COVID.

Meh. Probably just a coincidence.

Hopefully, this is just a blip on the radar for the ol' school dance.

They're a rite of passage.

Plus, getting rejected Dikembe Mutombo-style by the captain of the cheerleaders when you ask her to do the Cupid Shuffle with you just builds character.