Do ya’ll ever wonder if single family zoning, and car-centric urban planning, are some of the primary factors behind modern adults suffering from rampant loneliness? Two environments renown for fostering friendships and social activities are university campuses, and seasonal jobs in remote locations. What do those two things have in common? Proximity. People work, eat, and play together. In another word, community.
In my experience, humans are simple creatures. We take the path of least resistance. For your standard adult, the concept of traveling across town to meet up with friends after a full day of work or chores is exhausting. We crave those connections, but the barrier to entry is too high. We settle for whatever scratches that itch with the minimal amount of effort. Typically that involves some form of social media or other digital communication. It’s like grabbing that crappy packet of ramen because you ran out of groceries before your market day. It’s not really what you want to have for dinner, but it’s what is readily available so you shrug and eat it anyway.
This is all anecdotal and speculation on my part, but I’m curious if anyone else has any thoughts on this.
It depends - with public transport the close proximity to unnaturally large numbers of humans who could be trying to rob, harass or scam you, making you talk to nobody in the huge crowd can make you feel more isolated and lonely than if you were completely alone
I think there’s a certain “dehumanisation” of other drivers which comes with cars, however that’s less of an issue with cars and more of an issue with high concentrations of people in a small space (not to be confused with population density, just a symptom of poorly designed communities)