The cultural aspect definitely shapes both the meaning of living at home in Italy vs US and why people in the US tend to look for these psychedelic escapes more

The cultural aspect definitely shapes both the meaning of living at home in Italy vs US and why people in the US tend to look for these psychedelic escapes more than others. As a US alien I noticed that drug use is way more normalized and less scary than where I was. Everyone knows someone who does/did hard drugs or someone who’s a functioning alcoholic. That was not the case for me at all before coming to the us. A 15yo that smokes weed is a given in the US. “Well yeah of course that happens”. It’s like when a kid says “well everyone is doing it” but at a society level. I also think Americans are more lonely and the parental figures are usually seen more negatively than in countries like Italy where mama is sacred and the grandma is god. In the US you can be at a party with people you barely know and they’ll be talking shit about their parents nonchalantly and you’ll have people agreeing like “FACTS”. Even in comedy, how many comedians use their bad parents to make people relate to them and laugh? That cultural difference makes living at home in Italy much different than living at home in the US. You don’t want to disappoint that Italian mama, but in the US is whatever, parents suck and I’ll do what I want.