Magazine | Why young people are disappearing from the night

“The generation that is now taking its first steps into club culture is more likely to meet up during the day than at night,” says Freek Wallagh, Amsterdam’s 27-year-old Night Mayor. It marks a significant difference from his own generation. “Discovering the world at night was life-changing for me.”
 
According to Wallagh, financial considerations are one of the main reasons young people are going out less, although “it’s not as black and white as the media often suggests”. Because virtually everything can now be found online, he argues, young people have become more intentional in their music tastes. When they do go out, they are often seeking specific sounds or artists. “Casual club and bar hopping” no longer fits that pattern. He also believes that the Covid-19 pandemic left many young people unfamiliar with traditional nightlife.
 
Folia spoke to ten students from the UvA about their social lives. For many of them, rising ticket and drink prices are reasons to avoid clubs. “In the past, you could start the evening with drinks on a terrace, but now everything is far too expensive,” says Psychology student Ronja Schagen (20). “If the people around you stop going out, you tend to do the same.”
 
Not everyone has abandoned nightlife. Law students Pip Kleuver (20) and Jill Dijkhuizen (17) still go out regularly. “That’s mainly because of our social circle, they go out a lot too,” says Dijkhuizen. Even so, they also have their doubts. They have noticed rising drink prices and feel that the increasingly late start times of parties disrupt their routines. “I’d rather be in bed by 3 a.m. than by 6 a.m.,” says Dijkhuizen. “But all the fun people only show up around midnight,” adds Kleuver.
 
A vibe for dads
The “vibe” in clubs just isn’t what it used to be, many responses to Hodenpijl’s TikTok video concluded. “It’s become a hook-up and make-out spot,” says sociology student Lisa Hermann, 21. Economics and Business student Luiza Largura, 19, agrees. “There are hardly any young people left. I see more dads in clubs than people of my own age.”
 
Clubs once served as places to meet new people and step outside your social bubble. According to the students, that has changed. “Nobody starts conversations with strangers anymore. When I try, it feels awkward rather than natural,” says Economics and Business student Mari Stemmer, 21.
 
House parties
If the younger generation is no longer heading to nightclubs, what are they doing instead?
The conversations with UvA students reveal that house parties are more popular compared to expensive nights at clubs. “I want to be able to talk to people instead of shouting over loud music,” says Livia Werkhoven, 19, who studies Interdisciplinary Social Sciences.
 
“It’s a shame that fewer people are going out,” says Schagen. Students note that house parties make it harder to meet new people. There’s clearly a need to venture outside of the social bubble. But where can you find them now?
 

What was once the default leisure activity now costs not only too much money but also too much energy. Students say weekends are more often spent lifting weights at the gym or relaxing with friends in a park, than recovering from a hangover in bed. Not everyone welcomes that shift.
“Sometimes it feels like young people already think they’re 30,” says Largura. “They’re focused on fitness and healthy living, but they forget to make great memories while they’re young.”
 
Sober clubbing?
There is another trend emerging in the field of health. Night-time mayor Wallagh has noticed that young people are drinking less alcohol. Figures from the Dutch Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) show that the proportion of young people who drink alcohol declined slightly between 2022 and 2025 compared with the period from 2015 to 2017.
 
Amari Stanienda and Marit Brom organise alcohol-free parties in Amsterdam, also known as sober clubbing. When asked whether many young people are drawn to their events, Stanienda says yes. “But we attract a wide variety of people.”
 
Anthropology student Jo Erickson came here on a quest. “I go to clubs and gatherings sober to find out what it’s like.” Erickson is surprised by the way alcohol is inextricably linked to our social lives. “I want to be able to enjoy the music and have real conversations with people. Alcohol numbs that.”
 
According to Stanienda, the appeal of the sober clubbing gatherings is growing. They attribute this to the need to distance oneself from the all-numbing nightlife. They have seen former drug and alcohol addicts rediscover their love of dancing at their events. “At one point I thought: what on earth are we doing here?” says Stanienda, recounting their own experience of the nightlife scene. “I was there with my best friends, but I didn’t really know anything about them. Are you really friends then?”
 
So what does a sober gathering look like? Not at night but during the day, no alcohol or drugs but zero-per-cent beers and cans of maté. Stanienda: “The party starts after breakfast and you’re back home before dinner.”
 
“Staying sober is a big experiment, but it makes going out a lot more adventurous. If you drink or take drugs, you know exactly how the evening will unfold; when you’re sober, nothing is predictable,” says Stanienda. And the next morning, you remember everything.
 
If hangovers and late nights are stopping students from going out, is partying sober the solution? Erickson thinks so. “I don’t want to lose that sense of community. It’s very personal here; I’m greeted at the door and everyone is welcome.”
 
Would the ten UvA students interviewed consider hitting the dance floor completely sober? That’s doubtful. If it’s too expensive in the clubs, they take their alcoholic drinks home. “Actually, I would like to drink less,” says Werkhoven. “But in the club, you almost have to be drunk to have a good time.”