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Nearly six in 10 US young adults live within 10 miles of where they grew up

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Re: Nearly six in 10 US young adults live within 10 miles of where they grew up

#161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not ever feeling any kind of culture shock is itself limiting.

There is a lot of value in learning about different cultures by physically travelling, but I think there are other options now. I believe the hyper-globalization of society due to technology allows many more people to experience other cultures without needing to travel. It's up to individuals to take advantage of it and lean into certain discomforts. I don't believe it's possible to integrate with modern society succ…

I don't think YouTube videos or even a two-week trip are substitutes for living somewhere different. Too many small things you can't notice at that level of engagement.

Re: Nearly six in 10 US young adults live within 10 miles of where they grew up

#162

A lot of upperwardly mobile, ambitious people don't realize this, or they generally understand it only in terms of chastising their high school peers who stayed home. If you build a society based on the assumption everyone will simply move and re-skill to the regions with economic opportunity, you get a lot of regions of bitter people who stayed behind somewhere and watched their local economy get destroyed by trade…

While I partially agree with your assessment, it's worth noting that much of the dynamic settlement of the US has been based on commodity booms, which really can't be considered perpetual parts of the economy. People had to leave their homes to go clear the prairie, log virtually all of the US forest, mine the West Virginia coal and then the Wyoming coal after that, etc. Once those resources are used up, there is little left for people to do, regardless of technological advances that require fewer workers for the same output, much less trade deals (how much wood and grain do we import?). The economies oriented around renewable resources (Oregon timber for example) simply can't sustain as many people because the environment can't continually produce the output that it did during the initial exploitation.

This of course affects the downstream, more industrial elements concentrated in cities as well, which process the ore and lumber and make engines and furniture.

Re: Nearly six in 10 US young adults live within 10 miles of where they grew up

#163
post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I want quiet, safety, cleanliness, privacy and affordability. Most of these are pretty cliche. New York City is one of the safest cities in the country per capita. But as with “cleanliness” is usually trotted out in a dog whistly kind of way that really is about something else. And affordability: yep. You’ve got that for a couple reasons: 1. People LIKE living in cities. Good old supply/demand. 2. As this thread is…

> New York City is one of the safest cities in the country per capita. But as with “cleanliness” is usually trotted out in a dog whistly kind of way Having lived in other big cities that manage to collect garbage in containers, NYC's continued practice of dumping uncontained garbage on the sidewalk for collection gives it a very real non-dog-whistly feeling(/sight/odor) of dirtyness.

I just heard they were working on that. It looks like it actually started in April. Clean Curbs Pilot Program https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/dsny/site/our-work/containerized...

Re: Nearly six in 10 US young adults live within 10 miles of where they grew up

#164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[Citation required] for almost every sentence in your post - most importantly "it is the backbone driving the most valuable members of our society". What a ridiculous assertion.

I guess you missed the first two words of my comment.

[deleted]

Re: Nearly six in 10 US young adults live within 10 miles of where they grew up

#165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>In my experience, moving is related to aspiration. And where you grew up. I grew up somewhere that aspirants move to. So I never left because why would I bother? As the US becomes more urbanized, people are going to have less of a reason to move to places with more opportunity because they're already in places that have opportunity.

Growing up where the aspirants move to is such an odd place to be in certain social circles. Simultaneous jealousy and judgement. But yeah. As an LA native, I don’t have much reason to leave. But it’s not like I’m some kind of sheltered, naive farmboy.

> But yeah. As an LA native, I don’t have much reason to leave.

Are houses cheap in LA? Aren’t a bunch of people leaving California for cheaper property inland?

Re: Nearly six in 10 US young adults live within 10 miles of where they grew up

#166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which is fascinating, because while we know California is technically net-outward migration (people moving to other states), the demographic of people net MOVING to California is by people in the top 5%. California is essentially gentrifying at the state level with wealthy transplants, pushing working and middle class people who grew up here out of the state. [1] https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-sac-skelton-in…

You can't win, huh? Move to California, you're gentrifying it. Move out of California, you're gentrifying wherever you go. Perhaps this framework isn't the best to think about it.

Better to not interact with California whatsoever.

Re: Nearly six in 10 US young adults live within 10 miles of where they grew up

#167
I am currently very conflicted about this. I grew up in India but was fortunate to live in the US and now in Europe for undergrad/grad school. I am (slightly) older than the demographic in the article. I am planning on settling down with my girlfriend soon, after I finish some career related stuff. If I want to start a family, I really want to move back to my hometown in India, with the strong social support system. While moving around has been exciting and an eye-opening experience, I am tired of constantly making new friends and leaving them after a few years, and miss my family some times, and eventually the kids would benefit from being around their grandparents. On the other hand, moving back would be career limiting.

Does anybody who is further along on the journey have any advice? How did you make this decision?

Re: Nearly six in 10 US young adults live within 10 miles of where they grew up

#168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably the "move around a lot" people don't talk much with the "don't move around much" people, and vice-versa.

The "don't move around people" are busy hanging out with their family and high school friends.

Sometimes those small town groups move together as well!

My example: Shortly after college, I moved to the city half way across the country because my high school friend lived there. And then several other of our high school friends (all from a small town) moved there with their spouses as well, and we'd all hang out and even started a company together for a while. We eventually all went our separate ways, at least as far as what states we live in. (There is still some amount of moving to be closer again going on as well. For example my ex's family and a friend from the state we moved to moved closer to her.)

Re: Nearly six in 10 US young adults live within 10 miles of where they grew up

#169
While I am not within the 60%, I live about 80km from where I grew up (basically the same metro area), and I feel fortunate enough to not have to move very far for my career. I have only ever worked remote, and truly love where I live.

I have traveled to most US states and about a dozen countries, and wouldn't trade my home for any of them. The structural advantages (family, friends, regional knowledge, activities) are tremendous. If you are planning to have children, having parents/relatives around to share in the childcare is an enormous financial advantage.

Re: Nearly six in 10 US young adults live within 10 miles of where they grew up

#170
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my experience, moving is related to aspiration. If I stayed where I grew up I’d honestly likely be an opioid statistic and definitely not doing anything worthwhile with my life. I still keep in touch with a few people from youth who didn’t ruin their lives, and I’m the standout success story despite being the socially awkward and poor one. Moving thousands of miles has changed my life in ways I’d never dream of, s…

One of the more baffling anecdotes I’ve read in a while. The response to a very general comment about where most people end up is “opioid statistics” and then just the usual bravado. The response to such a malappropriate reply is so obvious (for most of 60% of young adults this opioid thing is not what they are signing themselves up for, so where is the relevance?) that it feels tedious to state it as a question.

I’ll take baffling as a compliment.

The opioid thing is relevant because lots of people I grew up with in my home city fucked up their lives, and I’d have done the same had I stayed because social networks, living in poverty, decay and hopelessness etc.

Leaving broke me out of that and gave me access to better social capital which was (perhaps an exaggeration) a difference between life and death.

YMMV but if you’ve grown up in a decaying urban area, you know what I’m talking about.

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