Noting the irony as I type this, I believe the internet is responsible.

Plus, it will save us energy consumption.

good read...

On a more on-topic note, some days as I walk down 15th, five or six people will say hello or wave. Living in a population-dense area (and leaving cyberspace occasionally) does have its advantages.

And now, following my own advice, I'm going to the park.

Net impact - four people socializing, getting exercise, only one car between them, then having dinner in public.

It's a nice day - go get some exercise and be friendly to people!

My fave muppet movie is Muppet Treasure Island ...

Also, I don't think we feel like we share any kind of common culture anymore.

So unless you're in a tightly knit, easily recognizable subculture, you don't know what to say to each other.

We're becoming a country of highly diverse strangers.

Hey - maybe that's why it's The Stranger!

Instead, especially in the city, and especially in a relatively childless on like Seattle, we tend to withdraw into the comfort of monogamous relationships - and then it's very hard to make friends, since that might provoke jealousy or at least take time away from the main relationship.

The suburbs, in contrast, are very friendly places - families up and down the block all know each other, have barbecues, look after each other's kids, etc.

It's the city that's the locus of alienation. Always has been, always will be.

How many apartment dwellers know their immediate neighbors? Not many. They are literally too close for comfort.

What Pleasantville-type neighborhood do you live in. I was born and raised in an assortment of surbia's across this land and never knew one so united.

Meanwhile, I have also noticed the too-close-for-comfort effect in apartments, but just recently I had pretty friendly neighbors. Last holiday season, I was packing to fly to see my family, and the neighbors, who were throwing a potluck, knocked and invited me over. Had I not had to finish packing up, get to bed and wake up at 5 am the next day to get to SeaTac, I would've obliged.

Meanwhile, while living with my sister and others in a nice house in a nice neighborhood, we maybe spoke with our neighbors 2-3 times in the 2+ years I lived there.

And in my other apartment living, I've lived in places where I've never once seen nor spoken with my neighbors.

It does depend on who you're around, rather than where you're located.