Does Moving to an "Unfriendly" City Make You More Unfriendly? (cities, different)

[f1000]

Say you come from a smaller town/ city or a region that has a reputation for being friendly & you move to a less-friendly region (or big city).

Do you become less friendly yourself?

Ya there's friendliness and unfriendliness everywhere, but there is no doubt that level of friendliness is strongest in the South & Midwest, and lowest in the NorthEast & West Coast.

I consider the following cities unfriendly, for the record:
- LA
- San Francisco
- Seattle
- Vancouver
- Boston
- NYC
- DC
- Toronto
- Miami

and the following are noticeably friendlier:
- Chicago
- Minneapolis
- Dallas
- Atlanta
- Houston
- New Orleans
- Denver
- Calgary

[The Dissenter]

Originally Posted by f1000

Say you come from a smaller town/ city or a region that has a reputation for being friendly & you move to a less-friendly region (or big city).

Do you become less friendly yourself?

Ya there's friendliness and unfriendliness everywhere, but there is no doubt that level of friendliness is strongest in the South & Midwest, and lowest in the NorthEast & West Coast.

I consider the following cities unfriendly, for the record:
- LA
- San Francisco
- Seattle
- Vancouver
- Boston
- NYC
- DC
- Toronto
- Miami

and the following are noticeably friendlier:
- Chicago
- Minneapolis
- Dallas
- Atlanta
- Houston
- New Orleans
- Denver
- Calgary

Well, from my experience I moved from a mid-sized city in Southern VA to DC and I can't say I wasn't affected in the friendliness department as I got a little meaner. Now that I live in a friendlier city I'm a little more friendly. You are what you are surrounded by.

[country pride]

My own 2c would be that I wouldnt move to a city in the first place. Also visiting any place without first visiting a few times and checking things out should be considered. But secondly, moving someplace where the lifestyle clashes with yours would be senseless too.
Just my own personal thought.

[Aganusn]

Definitely. Coming from a small town of nice people in Oregon to a big area like NJ, I'm definitely less patient and generally don't like small talk with people anymore, lol. I'm kind of afraid of the way it has changed me.

[SEAandATL]

Yeah, if you're in city where most of the people are rude you have to be rude yourself or people will just walk all over you. That's why I'd rather live in friendly cities like Atlanta or Tokyo.

[1208]

Your environment can have a very big impact on you, whether you notice it or not. Definitely in terms of friendliness, I moved from a small city where everyone says hi to strangers to a bigger city where no one acknowledges strangers, and for a while I continued to say 'hi' to everyone, eventually i lost the habit and no longer even pay attention to strangers.

[ho hey!]

I quite agree, but my experience is a little different. I went to Thailand and everyone is friendly over there. I come back over here to Minneapolis and everyone seems LESS friendly than people in Thailand although people have said Minneapolis is a friendly city. I came back and it makes me less friendly than when I was in Thailand, haha.

[Cletus Awreetus-Awrightus]

Yes, I definitely think so. It's impossible to maintain small-town manners in a larger urban environment.

[JerZ]

Yes. However, I disagree with L.A. being on the unfriendly list. My experience was just the opposite: it took being in Southern California for a few years, then going back to the northeast, to see the difference and to watch myself transform, almost against my will, into a nasty person in self-defense almost the moment I entered the state.

It was an eye-opener for me and very sad.

[wordlife]

Chicago's a great city but there's too much segregation for it to be called "friendly". In fact I feel this way about a great majority of the Midwest, the racial segregation is harsher than anything i've experienced in the South or home in the Northeast.