• limer@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    14 hours ago

    I used to see many people socializing outside: adults and kids. Now, 4 decades later I only see kids under 12 hang outside. I noticed people from Europe coming here expressing surprise of streets empty of pedestrians.

    At the same time, I witnessed less places and businesses where people can be together, less attendance at both bars, school sports and churches - and the decline of local politics, grassroots and community activism.

    I can’t help but think all these are related to what you say here

    • Apricot@lemm.ee
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      13 hours ago

      Bowling Alone by Robert Putnam. Community has been on a slow decline in America since 1965. The combination of an increasingly isolated population and a 24-hour propaganda news cycle aimed to pit you against your neighbor has been a wild success.

      • naeap@sopuli.xyz
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        9 hours ago

        Also fighting for survival with multiple jobs pretty much kills the inventive for anything social on your rare free time