4 ms·

Because it's a miserable experience, and a waste of time, and living in an actual city is a good way to rebel against your parents' pathological love of exurbs.

cafard 14y ago
Yes, a miserable experience, often a waste of time (though I see a lot of traffic on HN about computer games...). I don't think that we boomers had a pathological love of the exurbs as such. But in many cases we moved there for perceived safety and for better public schools. In some cases I suppose because custody of the car keys gave us some more years of control.
- glitchdout 14y ago
  often a waste of time (though I see a lot of traffic on HN about computer games...) Wait, what?
  - jamesaguilar 14y ago
    The implication is that computer games are a waste of time. This is a belief often held by people who have not realized that "waste of time" is not a globally defined function.
    - unethical_ban 14y ago
      Kind of like the OP that suggests the same of driving.
      - jamesaguilar 14y ago
        Well, I don't think the implication is the same. Driving is a waste of time to those who have to do it and consider it a waste of time. That's a lot of us, a lot of the time. Rarely does anyone play a video game while simultaneously thinking, "This is a waste of my time." There may be some regret over other things left undone afterward, but it's not like the commute where many participants are actively wishing, during participation, that they might not have to.
- RyanMcGreal 14y ago
  Tragically, children are more likely to be killed in car accidents in American suburbs than by violence in American inner cities.
  - cafard 14y ago
    The definition or at least perception of safety does not depend solely on the frequency of sudden death. I have lived in, around (two blocks to about 5 miles), or in Washington, DC for third of a century, and do not regret it. However, I have been held up at gunpoint, our car has been stolen, I know neighbors and friends who have been burglarized more than once. Some people would look at that and decide that the exurbs are just more restful. Nor does city residence make you immune to death by auto. You could be run over by a Metrobus (happened to two women on Pennsylvania Avenue a couple of years ago), or be in a nice hot car that you decide to drive at 90 mph across Key Bridge (young guy this spring). Let me add that I can go a week without getting into a car, though if my wife didn't do the grocery shopping (her commute more or less demands one--20 minutes with, 50+ without), things would be different. I just happen to think that the young, urban (and commonly single) crowd should not imagine that they are certainly always going to be living in Hoboken or the Mission and taking public or employer-provided transportation, or that those who have made other choices are somehow inferior.
acheron 14y ago
Yeah, you couldn't pay me enough to live in a city. Comes down to the fact that people suck, and in a city you can't get away from them. I'll take my 2 acre yard any day.
MatthewPhillips 14y ago
I feel like what you consider to be "an actual city" is only the top 5-10 biggest cities in the U.S.
- thrownaway2424 14y ago
  Why do you think that? Most of the ten largest cities in the US are disposable agglomerations of endless suburbs, like Houston or Phoenix, where it would be close to impossible to live without a car. A "real city" to me is a place where people routinely have real meatspace interactions with other people, not intermediated by metal and glass containers. Most of these places are mid-sized, except for New York and Chicago.
- mjmahone17 14y ago
  Because in the US, those are the only cities that have the public services to make them a truly cohesive unit: in Phoenix, for instance, the houses are too widespread, and the downtown too filled with parking lots, to allow for a strong sense of the community as a city existing (I grew up just outside Phoenix, and if you don't have a car, i.e. are 14, you can't engage in city activities, such as the zoo, or museums, etc.. And even when you do have a car, it doesn't feel like a city when getting from a typical home to a D-Backs game takes 45 minutes, and then you have to walk 30 minutes to get from the parking lot, and while you're walking you only pass industrial lots and parking structures).

cafard 14y ago

Yes, a miserable experience, often a waste of time (though I see a lot of traffic on HN about computer games...). I don't think that we boomers had a pathological love of the exurbs as such. But in many cases we moved there for perceived safety and for better public schools. In some cases I suppose because custody of the car keys gave us some more years of control.

glitchdout 14y ago
often a waste of time (though I see a lot of traffic on HN about computer games...) Wait, what?
- jamesaguilar 14y ago
  The implication is that computer games are a waste of time. This is a belief often held by people who have not realized that "waste of time" is not a globally defined function.
  - unethical_ban 14y ago
    Kind of like the OP that suggests the same of driving.
    - jamesaguilar 14y ago
      Well, I don't think the implication is the same. Driving is a waste of time to those who have to do it and consider it a waste of time. That's a lot of us, a lot of the time. Rarely does anyone play a video game while simultaneously thinking, "This is a waste of my time." There may be some regret over other things left undone afterward, but it's not like the commute where many participants are actively wishing, during participation, that they might not have to.
RyanMcGreal 14y ago
Tragically, children are more likely to be killed in car accidents in American suburbs than by violence in American inner cities.
- cafard 14y ago
  The definition or at least perception of safety does not depend solely on the frequency of sudden death. I have lived in, around (two blocks to about 5 miles), or in Washington, DC for third of a century, and do not regret it. However, I have been held up at gunpoint, our car has been stolen, I know neighbors and friends who have been burglarized more than once. Some people would look at that and decide that the exurbs are just more restful. Nor does city residence make you immune to death by auto. You could be run over by a Metrobus (happened to two women on Pennsylvania Avenue a couple of years ago), or be in a nice hot car that you decide to drive at 90 mph across Key Bridge (young guy this spring). Let me add that I can go a week without getting into a car, though if my wife didn't do the grocery shopping (her commute more or less demands one--20 minutes with, 50+ without), things would be different. I just happen to think that the young, urban (and commonly single) crowd should not imagine that they are certainly always going to be living in Hoboken or the Mission and taking public or employer-provided transportation, or that those who have made other choices are somehow inferior.

acheron 14y ago

Yeah, you couldn't pay me enough to live in a city. Comes down to the fact that people suck, and in a city you can't get away from them. I'll take my 2 acre yard any day.

MatthewPhillips 14y ago

I feel like what you consider to be "an actual city" is only the top 5-10 biggest cities in the U.S.

thrownaway2424 14y ago
Why do you think that? Most of the ten largest cities in the US are disposable agglomerations of endless suburbs, like Houston or Phoenix, where it would be close to impossible to live without a car. A "real city" to me is a place where people routinely have real meatspace interactions with other people, not intermediated by metal and glass containers. Most of these places are mid-sized, except for New York and Chicago.
mjmahone17 14y ago
Because in the US, those are the only cities that have the public services to make them a truly cohesive unit: in Phoenix, for instance, the houses are too widespread, and the downtown too filled with parking lots, to allow for a strong sense of the community as a city existing (I grew up just outside Phoenix, and if you don't have a car, i.e. are 14, you can't engage in city activities, such as the zoo, or museums, etc.. And even when you do have a car, it doesn't feel like a city when getting from a typical home to a D-Backs game takes 45 minutes, and then you have to walk 30 minutes to get from the parking lot, and while you're walking you only pass industrial lots and parking structures).