r/Suburbanhell

I see a lot of people on here scratching their heads performatively about how they can't understand why the suburbs are so bad. And when it's pointed out that nothing is ever in walking distance, people say, "well, what's wrong with driving?"

There's so much I could get into here, but a societal expectation that everyone should drive is messed up beyond belief. Even if 100% of the people could legally obtained licenses, imagine how stupid it is that vast swaths of our society become inaccessible the moment your car has a bad day, or you run out of money to pay the insurance. Even in a world where 100% of people can legally drive, that doesn't mean 100% of people will.

And before anyone tells me that's just how life is, it doesn't need to be that way. It was designed that way specifically to make you dependent on a metal box that you have to pay insurance and gas money for.

And the screwed up thing is that it's not really even the cost of the car that's scary. Insurance and gas can skyrocket at any time as people are slowly starting to learn. They are ongoing costs that you will be responsible for no matter how much they increase for the lifetime of however long you drive.

That is why my generation and younger are starting to opt out. But they're finding a world that just isn't ready for them Even if you are lucky to have sidewalks, they are very often unmaintained. Even if you are lucky to have a bus system, it's usually designed around work commute. Buses in most bedroom communities shut down by 8 or 9 o'clock at night. And because everything is so spread out in suburban designs, you can easily need to worry about a quarter mile of walking or more just to get to your first bus stop. Again, this is a best-case scenario for most suburbs designed after 1940.

So until you understand what life is like in your suburb without your car, I don't want to hear about how suburbs aren't so bad actually.

I've really come to terms with this after having my daughter. I go outside in my neighborhood and there's never kids playing, or hardly anyone on walks. Everyone is much, much older. There's no one my age to talk to or be friends with. There's hardly parents around my age at local events, either. I've never felt so alone in my life. It's hard to make friends in the burbs. Life is so...isolating anymore. In contrast, my friend in a local city has a huge group of mom friends she met, is constantly out and about doing various activities, walks to things and places. It's so hard being car dependent where I live and no one seems to want to make new friends or get to know other people. I grew up in the city as well and constantly had friends on my block. In the suburbs everyone just keeps to themselves. Sigh. I just had to vent. Thanks for listening.

I live in an older city and the suburban type areas aren't zoned too badly. There is a corner store the block over and even a winery that has live music in the summer. Of course my neighbors put on their serious hats and went to the city council to complain about it. The pictures from the news article were almost funny. They had the most serious expressions like they were discussing a murder.

Complaints:
-"How can a bar set up in a residential area?": yes one of them actually said this.
- "There's kids out at 10-11pm!": Americans are child haters and find the prescience of children offensive I guess
- "The house I inherited from my father will have reduced property values": boomer who didn't even live in the neighborhood said this

It's weird that suburbanites will tolerate constant lawn mowers, dogs barking, cars revving up the street at 2am but god forbid people have fun and listen to music. That noise is disruptive! I mean obviously they're not mad about the noise itself so much as they are people having fun and doing something besides sitting quietly inside and watching netflix.

Thankfully they failed and I heard the band playing last night. It makes me happy the rare times human joy wins out.

Im 45 minutes away from anything it takes 20 minutes to get out of my neighborhood because the road system is so bad. The nearest "oasis" of entertainment is 20 minutes away but its just an outlet mall with one entertainment area with a movie theater.

I literally have to pay to do or go anywhere and I have literally no extra money so all I do is sit in my parents basement playing video games that eventually piss me off so much I spiral out of control. I would love to do anything else but I literally cant because I work weekends when people would do anything and again I have to pay to exist outside my home.

Im slowly losing all joy from any of my hobbies because Ive squeezed every ounce of dopamine out of them and all thata left is a single new game that is designed to its core to make you feel amazing or depressed as hell.

But its either that or sleep all day because even the nearest library is 20 minutes away. All I want to do is be around others but everyone out here is in a cultish religion so there literally nothing for my interests.

No bars, no coffee shops, nothing. Just churches on every street corner all doing the exact same mind numbing things.

Im alone out here besides my parents who im not close with and have the exact opposite living schedules so i rarely see them and even then we font do anything because we have no similar interests.

Im withering away in this desert and mentally I feel myself getting worse by the day. Just let me get back to the city near my friends, community, and have the ability to go anywhere by walking without having to spend a small fortune