Honestly one of the biggest and most important differences is cars, city planning, and how they effect one’s community. I saw the other day a show hn for making friends and thought that so much of that need comes from not being surrounded by people in cities designed for people.

I’ll use a metaphor that I think is funny. If life were an office, it is better from a community standpoint to start your life in an open office, and then eventually decide as you get more senior if you want to work from home completely, hybrid, or stay in the open floor plan. The opposite is a disaster, when life begins as a work from home office, from a community perspective, because you don’t have a good bridge to prior generations and other branches of the human genealogy tree.

I’ll end by saying that I love the USA and it has a lot of great attributes as a nation. I honestly wouldn’t have enough time in this comment to go over how many things are done well there. Anyways, I’m just a little worried about the compounding effects from being without community, due to cities designed for cars. Situations like that can be unpredictable and dangerous, with unsavory alternatives suddenly seeming attractive.

Roommates, romantic partners, workmates, and college buds are the saving grace in all this.