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mirgro on 25 March 2010
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nordlead said:
mirgro said:

I do computer work where deadlines are a huge part of the work and maybe it's different in other types of work, bu it was very prevalent in he software engineer type. Going by ranking of best jobs in America where they factor in things such as stress, time off, and income, software engineers have been first consistently for several years. I jus felt that if the best of the US can offer is the way I see it, things don't really get any better.

Also why would I want more free time when I am old? I can go to clubs, bars,  beaches, mountains, anywhere, right now and as I get older I'll have less and less energy to do social things. Because people socialize a ton more when they are young than when they are old. Even if the goal is early retirement, it's still anti-social.

As to the broad idea of how the US is overal anti-social. In your average day, how many new people do you see between your waking and night hours that aren't tied to your work? With how many of them do you converse and exhange even just a greeting? How many new "ideas" are you exposed to in a month outside of your work? Where and idea can be as simple as "this spors team is doing really well," and "I think you are faking your ID?"

Unless you live in NYC I won't believe anything more out of you that's more than 1, unless you work at sales or some oher managing job.

I don't know if you have travevelled aroud a lot or not, but not calling the US very poor socially when you have seen how European, or even Mexican or Quebecan (?), cities work would be very strange indeed.

this is rather presumptuous. I used to meet new people every week when I used to do volunteer work. You only meet people if you choose to do so. That has nothing to do with if you are in a big city or not, or if you are clubbing or not. I could live in a big city, and I would still ignore 99.9% of the people I walk by in a month.

Now I don't as much, because I prefer to spend time with my family and new child, yet I still manage to meet new people.

There. That's the crux of the problem in the US. Socializing is an "opt in" feature, not something that happes whether you like it or not. In just about all other nations, socializing is autmatic and you have to opt out of it and work really hard to avoid it. In the US you have to actively be social, otherwise you get in your car, go to work, do your job and socialize with colleagues, get in your car, go back home, work on your garden/computer/personal project/family matters/hobbies, and then sleep.

I also understand that you would ignore 99.99% of the people that ignore you on your way to work, or when you go out to eat, or wherever you have to leave your home, however that 0.01% is still a very big amount considering you run into a lot more than 100 people in your daily goings on, and, this is the very big one, because you ignore them doesn't mean they ignore you, and you end up forced to talk, yell, get angry, whatever at them.

I am sure that if you ask anyone from any country they will hate the people who piss them off, yet it has been shown that by having to deal with annoying random people, or just anoying friends, you learn how to deal with problems wen things aren't going your way. Humans are social, and even the things you hate about socializing seem to be greatly beneficial to people, there are dozens of studies that show just how social of an animal a human really is.