Do you find it hard to make/keep friends in atlanta? (Morrow: home, high school)

[sedimenjerry]

Originally Posted by ATLTJL

Nevermind rush hour, you could get caught in bumper to bumper traffic because of a Falcons or United game you didn't know about. Or because it's a nice day and people are heading to Piedmont Park. Or because they're repaving. Or because... seemingly no reason at all.

That's the real issue with travel in Atlanta. It's not even that rush hour is reliably bad. When it's reliable, at least you can plan for it. The true problem is things are so unreliable, you simply never know when you are going to hit standstill traffic. The only way to guarantee arriving for an appointment in time is to potentially be an hour early if there are no problems.

Yea and 285 seems to always have some lanes closed for something. Even a Saturday afternoon can have some bad traffic in spots

[aslowdodge]

Truthfully you live in no mans land. Why would anyone want to go visit morrow? It doesn’t seem to have much entertainment venues.
I think you will have to hang out in Atlanta and make friends there.
I agree with a lot of people here. You will need to go all out to make friends and initiate get togethers.
I’ve been very fortunate since moving from California. I have a lot more friends here in Marietta than back there. I went to a sports bars and noticed there were regulars and became friends with them. I joined a gym where people are very social. I know almost everyone there because I’m there all the time often my workouts take up to an hour longer because I talk a lot with them. I now have a group of friends there where we get together about every two weeks at a sports bar and have a great time.
Out of that group there’s a few I hang with more often and go out to eat or go to car shows.
One of the great things is back in California most people hang out with others in their own age range. Here age seems to be less of a barrier. My two closest friends are 29 and I’m 63. Our group I’m the oldest and they are the youngest with others spread out , mostly in their 40s.
Speaking of car shows I’ve met people there too.
I don’t think I’m a social butterfly, but do make an effort to meet people.
That said up here there’s lots to do with friends.
In morrow it would be tough.

[TexasToGA]

Morrow is not that far from Downtown/Midtown. You should be able to meet people in downtown/Midtown but as others say no one is going to want to come to Morrow.

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by ATLTJL

That's because traveling 50 miles to the Blue Ridge Mountains reliably takes 50 minutes.

Traveling 20-30 miles south of the city could take 30 minutes. Or it could take an hour and a half. You just never know. It's too unreliable, which is why people are reluctant to do it.

It’s not just traffic and travel times that figure heavily into the reluctance (and even outright resistance) of many ITPers and Northsiders to travel to a Southside area like Morrow, it’s also public perception and what people consider to be desirable.

And many Northsiders just simply do not consider a Southside area like Morrow and Clayton County to be a desirable area to travel to for meetups and hanging out.

You’re a Northsider. You know what Northside residents (generally metro Atlanta residents who live north of I-20) think of most places south of I-20 that are not the Airport.

If someone were to ask if you would rather go to the mountains for a group gathering at a winery in Dahlonega or have a group gathering in Clayton County, I strongly suspect that your choice would not be Clayton County... That is, unless you basically were not given a choice of not going to Clayton County.

ITPers and Northsiders (particularly more affluent ITPers and Northsiders) want to go to and visit locations north of I-20 (including Midtown, Piedmont Park, Buckhead, Lake Lanier, Kennesaw Mountain, Stone Mountain, Avalon, etc., etc., etc.), but most often (if not pretty much always) will be unwilling to visit most locations south of I-20 (including Clayton County) because of the negative perception of the Southside by many (if not most) Northsiders.

Many ITP and North Atlantans will battle very heavy traffic to get to highly desirable and popular destinations located north of I-20, north of the city and north of the metro because they find those northernly destinations (as well as the areas they are located in) to be highly desirable.

But many ITP and North Atlantans (with the exception of traveling through the area to get to and from the Airport or some other popular southward destination like the Georgia/North Carolina coast, the Florida Peninsula, the Florida Panhandle and the Gulf Coast, etc.) often will refuse to even travel through light traffic (much less heavy traffic) to get to a Southside location like Clayton County because they don’t find much (if not most) of the Southside to be desirable.

If someone like the OP wants to hold group activities and gatherings close to where he lives on the Southside, he likely will have to make friends with people who live on the Southside.

With very few, if any exceptions, mostly Northsiders just simply are not going to want to meet and hangout pretty much anywhere on the Southside, including in an area like Clayton County, which has a very negative reputation and perception amongst many (if not most) Northsiders.

[Smocaine]

I've never really thought about it, but having natural friends as an adult in Atlanta seems kind of impossible. There's minimal truly urban areas, most people are white collar corporate employees, leans both transient AND conservative (baby and large house asap). No one's from here so there's no natural networking, at best you're limited to work or church connections. I don't think the US has any areas hospitable to friend-making besides LA/Chicago/the old New England cities.


Also, trying to lure people to Morrow. Woof. That's a tough sell. The south metro really is just a blah, pointless area. There's no reason to ever spend time there voluntarily. I end up going to the southside area fairly frequently and it is all incredibly uninspiring. The perception exists for a reason.

[flamadiddle]

Regardless of location, I've never found Adult friends to be the same as the friends you grew up with. I have a whole different comfort level with people I've known since grade school vs. those I've met as an adult.

[arjay57]

This thread makes me kind of sad.

[aslowdodge]

Originally Posted by arjay57

This thread makes me kind of sad.

Why?

[Born 2 Roll]

Here is the link to a City-Data Atlanta Forum thread from 2018 that discussed the overwhelming bias that metro Atlanta has towards its north side, an example of which seems to be playing itself out in the OP’s apparent inability to convince his Northside associates to travel south to Morrow and Clayton County for social gatherings and get-togethers.

Northside Bias (City-Data Atlanta Forum, July 2018)

[BobbyJayATL]

People are WAY overthinking this.

It's simple. Live near the people you want to get to know and hangout with.

If you live in Morrow but all the friends (or people you want to be your friends) are hanging out in Midtown or East Atlanta or whatever, you should be living in Midtown or East Atlanta or whatever.

You know the type of person you are, and after living in Atlanta for 7+ years, you don't need a bunch of randos on city data telling you what type of people live where. You know.

Are you the type of person that lives in Morrow? Doesn't seem like it.

Move.