Most anti-social North American city?

[Phil A. Delphia]

Originally Posted by TBideon

Dayton

Fairborn, to be more specific.

[msvickybee]

Never known a city so poor at social skills. So lacking in friendliness, so closed off to strangers. Even hostile and purposely out to get you at times. Seattle is the worst place I’ve ever lived. Please stay away if you value meaningful human relationships.

[Losfrisco]

Big difference between "friendly" and "social."


"Friendly" places are is where you'll get all the pleasantries and small talk, but little meaningful interaction. People are generally locked into their social circles.

"Social" places are where you have meaningful interactions with people in random places (specific questions, what are your goals/aspirations, small impromptu collaborations).

I think its often mislabeled as "real" or "fake" but really its just friendly vs. social.

[TheTimidBlueBars]

Extraversion at least is an objective, measurable characteristic. The Well-Being Map project shows average extraversion (and a few other traits) in the population in each US county, as extrapolated from language used in tweets.

Go to "Select Characteristic" and pick Extraversion. Seattle and Portland do indeed score low on this. Other places with low scores include SF, Reno, Denver, Tucson, and Albany NY.

https://map.wwbp.org/mobile_map.html

[SnobbishDude]

As a LA native living in NYC, I found people in the west coast major cities like LA and SF are generally much more into small talk and exchanging pleasantries than NYers/northeasterners (perhaps because of the slower/more laid back pace of life on the west coast where people have more time to enjoy their life outside the work). NYers are certainly more direct and uptight than people on the west coast.

I think both people in LA and NYC are generally very social, it just differs in the way how people approach a friendship.

[_Buster]

I think you mean unsociable. anti-social is a psychiatric term, and many of them are deranged people persons. Jim Jones, perfect example.

[Cockatoo99]

Portland and Seattle

[TheTimidBlueBars]

Originally Posted by TheTimidBlueBars

Extraversion at least is an objective, measurable characteristic. The Well-Being Map project shows average extraversion (and a few other traits) in the population in each US county, as extrapolated from language used in tweets.

Go to "Select Characteristic" and pick Extraversion. Seattle and Portland do indeed score low on this. Other places with low scores include SF, Reno, Denver, Tucson, and Albany NY.

https://map.wwbp.org/mobile_map.html

Oops, here's the right link: https://map.wwbp.org/

[elchevere]

I agree with some of what you said but not all based on my experiences. Californians are likely to engage in initial courtesy small talk, extend a formal handshake, and try to outdo one another with a more meaningful(?)/heartfelt “have a nice day” at the end of the brief conversation but NY’ers will definitely have deeper conversations once they engage with you and are far less easily offended/politically correct. NY’ers are also more likely to invoke sarcasm and recognize sarcasm during a casual conversation without getting their panties twisted in knots. As part of the deeper aspect, NY’ers will definitely ask what you do for a living, where you live, where you went to school more to see if and what, and with whom, you have something in common. I found Californians would ask fewer of these questions (some, not all, thought it was nosy to ask what they do for work) and/or more “possessions” related questions to judge you.

One of my favorite NY “warmth” stories: I walked into a restaurant years ago and nearly tripped over the carpet. The bartender, whom I never met before, noticed this and started humming “The Dick Van Dyke” intro theme song (where he stumbles and falls over a chair). He then motions me over, welcomes me, and pours down complimentary shots on the house....this along with having met numerous strangers in social settings by chance, engaging in a nice 30-40 minute conversation, and knowing more about them during this brief encounter than my next door neighbor of 5 years in CA.

In summary, NY’ers appear cold on the outside but are very warm on the inside whereas I found Californians very warm on the outside but cold on the inside.

Originally Posted by SnobbishDude

As a LA native living in NYC, I found people in the west coast major cities like LA and SF are generally much more into small talk and exchanging pleasantries than NYers/northeasterners (perhaps because of the slower/more laid back pace of life on the west coast where people have more time to enjoy their life outside the work). NYers are certainly more direct and uptight than people on the west coast.

I think both people in LA and NYC are generally very social, it just differs in the way how people approach a friendship.

[Vincent_Adultman]

Man, who dredged up this old stinker of a thread?

I’ve been to every city on this poll except for Atlanta and have spent a fair amount in many of them - it’s no contest to me and yet the right answer isn’t even an option.

San Jose/Silicon Valley runs away with the title of most anti-social city in North America. The general vibe there is unfriendly and introverted to the extreme. I’m also not sure why San Francisco doesn’t have more votes - it’s a great city but I don’t see how it’s any less anti-social than Seattle. At least in Seattle most people put on a shallow veneer of friendliness, in SF they don’t even manage that. The Seattle Freeze is basically a watered down version of “Minnesota Nice”.

Also, to those who keep talking about “Californians” as if they’re one monolithic group - that’s way off base. Southern Californians are waaay less anti-social than people from the Bay Area, and the Central Valley and far Northern California are a totally different thing as well.