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There are life experiences that are impossible for kids in the city ever have and are more valuable than any sport, dance, or academic activity. I still cheris

There are life experiences that are impossible for kids in the city ever have and are more valuable than any sport, dance, or academic activity. I still cherish sports, music, and dance, but the difference in childhood environment is immediately recognizable in adults.

jeffbee 2y ago
> There are life experiences that are impossible for kids in the city ever have and are more valuable than any sport, dance, or academic activity. These being? I grew up in a lot of different places but the impression I get from my own experiences is that the valuable life lessons of being alone in the woods can be acquired part-time. You don't have to relocate there. And since living totally alone in the middle of nowhere, rather than in a small town surrounded by fields, farms, and forests, is a lifestyle that only recently became possible, I doubt the value of extended isolation. Throughout human history people have gathered into settlements of at least the size of a village. Living alone is totally new.
- b112 2y ago
  Well, if you're discussing post-agriculture yes. The equation and density changes a lot pre-agriculture. But regardless, rural != isolated. Children still go to school. This guy lives 10 miles (aka 10 minutes) from a "town", and that town is indeed where people get together. That's the thing about actual rural living. There are no stoplight (which takes 2 to 4 minutes to cycle) which slows down miles-driven. There are no traffic jams. Everyone is typically doing 60mph. 1 mile per minute. 10 miles is 10 minutes. I know people that take buses to "do city things", and it takes them > 1 hour to get anywhere. I know others that walk (20+ minutes) or drive (20+ minutes to get a mile away, or to get a few city blocks due to traffic). "Having houses apart" doesn't mean isolated from other humans. At all. Heck someone with a "few hundred acres" is often within a mile of another house. As a kid, I used to bicycle 10+ miles to see friends in the summer (when there was no school), and why not? And in the winter, you see your friends daily at school. You're not "living alone" because you're on a 200 acre parcel of land. A person would need millions of acres to even feel as if they're living alone.
  - michaelt 2y ago
    > But regardless, rural != isolated. Children still go to school. This guy lives 10 miles (aka 10 minutes) from a "town" 10 minutes for the grown-ups, who can drive whenever they feel like it. For the 14 year old who can't drive, and whose parents can't drop everything to play chauffeur? That's 40 minutes each way on a bicycle - along single-lane roads with drivers doing 60mph. Sounds like a recipe for your kid to spend all day behind a screen, to me. Source: Direct, firsthand experience. The social isolation and countless screen hours did turn me into a great programmer though, so I've got that going for me.
    - defrost 2y ago
      10 miles isn't much if you're 14 and live in the country, there's horses, dirt-bikes, hitch-hiking (local traffic), riding a push bike (traffic is rarely an issue and there are usually not-road paths to bike on. Some 14 years olds drive a paddock-basher (unlicensed car) on not-public farm roads. Source: Did all of that at 14 well deep in the country ( a good 1,000 km away from anything close to a city )
      - miah_ 2y ago
        100% this. I didn't have a farmers license, but I was definitely driving our little S10 up to the supermarket for groceries or gas at 14. Never had a issue. I wasn't a menace on the road until I was officially licensed ;)
        jeffbee 2y ago
        In Oklahoma my adolescence was marked largely by the constant undercurrent of people killing themselves with cars. I think this is integral with the rural or semi-rural lifestyle because Wyoming, S. Dakota, and Montana are #1, 2 and 3 for fatal transport accidents among teens. The more a place relies on cars to overcome isolation, the more of their young people they lose to car crashes. Descriptions about how this system works fine come from literal survivor bias.
- horns4lyfe 2y ago
  As an example I grew up riding horses every day, and grew to know and understand them very well. That’s not something you’ll experience in the city unless you’re very wealthy.
  - jeffbee 2y ago
    Granted that horses take a lot of space, but I think the weakness of arcbyte's statement lies in the "more valuable than any sport, dance, or academic activity" part.

jeffbee 2y ago

> There are life experiences that are impossible for kids in the city ever have and are more valuable than any sport, dance, or academic activity. These being? I grew up in a lot of different places but the impression I get from my own experiences is that the valuable life lessons of being alone in the woods can be acquired part-time. You don't have to relocate there. And since living totally alone in the middle of nowhere, rather than in a small town surrounded by fields, farms, and forests, is a lifestyle that only recently became possible, I doubt the value of extended isolation. Throughout human history people have gathered into settlements of at least the size of a village. Living alone is totally new.

b112 2y ago
Well, if you're discussing post-agriculture yes. The equation and density changes a lot pre-agriculture. But regardless, rural != isolated. Children still go to school. This guy lives 10 miles (aka 10 minutes) from a "town", and that town is indeed where people get together. That's the thing about actual rural living. There are no stoplight (which takes 2 to 4 minutes to cycle) which slows down miles-driven. There are no traffic jams. Everyone is typically doing 60mph. 1 mile per minute. 10 miles is 10 minutes. I know people that take buses to "do city things", and it takes them > 1 hour to get anywhere. I know others that walk (20+ minutes) or drive (20+ minutes to get a mile away, or to get a few city blocks due to traffic). "Having houses apart" doesn't mean isolated from other humans. At all. Heck someone with a "few hundred acres" is often within a mile of another house. As a kid, I used to bicycle 10+ miles to see friends in the summer (when there was no school), and why not? And in the winter, you see your friends daily at school. You're not "living alone" because you're on a 200 acre parcel of land. A person would need millions of acres to even feel as if they're living alone.
- michaelt 2y ago
  > But regardless, rural != isolated. Children still go to school. This guy lives 10 miles (aka 10 minutes) from a "town" 10 minutes for the grown-ups, who can drive whenever they feel like it. For the 14 year old who can't drive, and whose parents can't drop everything to play chauffeur? That's 40 minutes each way on a bicycle - along single-lane roads with drivers doing 60mph. Sounds like a recipe for your kid to spend all day behind a screen, to me. Source: Direct, firsthand experience. The social isolation and countless screen hours did turn me into a great programmer though, so I've got that going for me.
  - defrost 2y ago
    10 miles isn't much if you're 14 and live in the country, there's horses, dirt-bikes, hitch-hiking (local traffic), riding a push bike (traffic is rarely an issue and there are usually not-road paths to bike on. Some 14 years olds drive a paddock-basher (unlicensed car) on not-public farm roads. Source: Did all of that at 14 well deep in the country ( a good 1,000 km away from anything close to a city )
    - miah_ 2y ago
      100% this. I didn't have a farmers license, but I was definitely driving our little S10 up to the supermarket for groceries or gas at 14. Never had a issue. I wasn't a menace on the road until I was officially licensed ;)
      - jeffbee 2y ago
        In Oklahoma my adolescence was marked largely by the constant undercurrent of people killing themselves with cars. I think this is integral with the rural or semi-rural lifestyle because Wyoming, S. Dakota, and Montana are #1, 2 and 3 for fatal transport accidents among teens. The more a place relies on cars to overcome isolation, the more of their young people they lose to car crashes. Descriptions about how this system works fine come from literal survivor bias.
horns4lyfe 2y ago
As an example I grew up riding horses every day, and grew to know and understand them very well. That’s not something you’ll experience in the city unless you’re very wealthy.
- jeffbee 2y ago
  Granted that horses take a lot of space, but I think the weakness of arcbyte's statement lies in the "more valuable than any sport, dance, or academic activity" part.