this post was submitted on 31 May 2025
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There's something deeply unsettling about American suburbs, rows of identical houses, and not a human being in sight, no noises, just this artifical maze, my Uber took a detour though one once and I looked up from my phone and saw that I didn't realize where I am and it all looked so identical it was disorienting and I freaked out a bit, had to open Google maps to realize where I was. The movie Vivarium captures this feeling well. Why don't y'all get out and go for a walk and talk to your neighbors.
Even in the deepest suburbs it's not that hard to form community and connection with your neighbors. Hold a few yard sales, make small talk, greet people walking their dogs, get to know who lives where. That's literally all it takes, that and actually going out.
We complain endlessly, particularly on sites like Lemmy, about the US's lack of "walkable cities" and other systemic obstacles to having better sense of community and social contact, but we hardly ever see people doing something about it.
I get that it's less "fun" to go out and make friends if you don't got a riverwalk and cafes, but the most important ingredient is still there, which is other people you just need to step up and make things happen.
There are so many angles to why isolated people don't "just go out and talk to people", though I will spare the rant as I live in an area likely much less densely populated than a suburb so I'm not sure how well my experience would map to what you're saying.
Well, other than it's a lot easier for some people than others due to many aspects (like the bit you mention about dogs will work better for someone who also has a dog) but those are already the sort of things that are the difference between someone with some sort of social life vs someone with none.