“Hey, do you want to hang out?” my friend texts me after our big chemistry test.
“Sure, where?” I ask, waiting for a response, because we’ve collectively exhausted all of San Ramon’s hangout spots, even reaching over to the bowling alley in Pleasanton. Before she sends me the text with possible places, I can already predict what she is going to say. “How about a Taco Bell Run?” My eyes light up with joy as I can see my near future of gobbling down chalupas and scarfing down the rebooted nacho fries, but my stomach groans at the pain it is going to be subjected to for the next few days.
Now, I know that this is a depiction of a first-world problem, but my stomach has seriously been impacted by the number of times food has been used as the skeleton for plans with friends. Whether it be a bougie café, or the McDonalds next to the car wash, all my friends and I do is eat when we hang out, and more than that being a testament to our interest in trying out new foods, it is a representation of how there isn’t really anything to do here in San Ramon. To break this cycle of having no place to socialize, the City Center was constructed. Yet, it became another place where high school students go to socialize solely through eating.
Although there are activities like VR and escape rooms inside the City Center, those aren’t affordable options for high school students who want to spend time with their friends at least twice a month. Spending about $50 for one activity is not justifiable, so as broke students, we turn to affordable and amazing food. Grabbing sweet treats with your friends isn’t a bad thing, but the pattern in which it happens and the impact it has can be. When hanging out with friends becomes synonymous with eating, it changes the way our generation views nutrition and food.
As we increasingly go out to eat, our generation is consuming more saturated fats and higher amounts of sugar, which ultimately takes a toll on our health. Our eating habits have become more scattered, and lacking a routine will give us an increased risk of diabetes and other truly avoidable diseases. I am not an exception to this, and I would attribute my daily comments about my stomach being in deep distress to the frequent times my friends and I spend loitering around Crow Canyon Plaza, finding something sweet to feast on.
Beyond the increasing number of health problems in the future, because eating out is one of our only forms of socialization besides school, social eating takes away the opportunity to create genuine memories with friends. Whenever my friends and I go out to eat, we definitely have good conversations, but a few months later, I don’t remember a single word unless there is a key memory tied to it. When you look back on your high school years and the friendships you made, I don’t think the McDonald’s soggy fries should be the picture that comes to mind. If I think about hanging out with my friends, other than that one beautiful lava cake we all dug into (which I consider one of the most beautiful desserts in the world), the best memories I have with them are from doing an activity together. Whether it was something as simple as volunteering at the Food Bank or going to friends’ birthday parties, the memories we made were much more special than consuming processed sugar and buckets of American Cheese while talking. Contributing to something with your friends is the best form of socialization you can get.
In addition, the increase in social eating leads to more irresponsibility with money. The pressure of social situations can take away the moment when you judge whether spending your money is worth it or not. I am also a victim of not thinking before I spend with friends, and my parents have given me a disappointed look one too many times due to this habit.
Bored during spring break, my friends and I went to Delarosa’s, the pizza place in the LOT. All of us were on a mission: to debrief about something that happened to a particular friend, and to get a lot of food. Afterwards, our stomachs were completely full and we were panting out of breath, and yet, we had about two entire pizzas left as well as scraps of tiramisu.
My part of the bill was around $40, which led to a conversation with my parents about responsible spending, something I have since reflected on. Was a mediocre pizza and an even more mediocre tiramisu worth $40, not counting the in-depth conversation we all engaged in? Probably not, and that’s just one example of a negative aspect of socializing purely through eating.
Although San Ramon makes it hard to find things to do with your friends beyond inhaling volumes of food to talk, there are activities you can partake in that can genuinely be fun. Whether it’s my personal favorite — volunteering — or experiences like going on walks, socializing through methods other than dining out can improve your health, create genuine memories, and increase financial responsibility. Next time you’re going to eat out with your friends, ask yourself: Are you genuinely excited for the food, or do you just need a place to hang out?
