Our neighborhood used to have block parties - now everyone's inside on their devices and nobody knows each other

Same story in Phoenix. Bought here in 2004 when neighbors borrowed cups of sugar and watched each others' kids. 2024? Couldn't tell you a single neighbor's name beyond "guy with the loud truck" and "woman who never brings trash cans in." Gave up trying after hosting three BBQs where almost nobody showed up despite hand-delivered invitations

Opposite experience tbh. Old neighborhood was cold and isolated for 10 years. New development has dedicated FB group, monthly potlucks, and progressive dinner parties. Difference? Younger families who grew up online specifically seeking IRL connection as reaction to digital childhoods. Maybe location dependent? (Northeast suburbs here)

started community garden on empty lot last spring... slowly people began talking while watering their plots. now we have unofficial saturday morning coffee meetups. food brings people together when phones can't. small steps > grand gestures

You're fighting against billion-dollar companies literally designed to keep people inside and engaged with screens. Modern housing architecture doesn't help either - everyone has backyard patios/decks instead of front porches. We've designed away spontaneous interaction by accident

Honest question - do you actually want to know your neighbors? Mine are judgmental, loud, and constantly trying to rope everyone into their MLM schemes. I'm perfectly happy with a polite wave and otherwise keeping to myself. Not all community is positive community

Pandemic killed whatever was left of neighborhood culture. People got comfortable with isolation, developed social anxiety, realized they could live entire lives without interacting with folks next door. Digital communities replaced physical ones. Not sure there's going back

Try a "little free library" - built one last year and suddenly everyone stops to chat while browsing books. Created natural conversation space that feels "purposeful" rather than just socializing. Even teenagers occasionally browse (shocking!)

Moved neighborhoods 3x in 5 years (military family). Found subdivision FB/NextDoor groups utterly toxic at all locations - constant complaints, surveillance footage sharing, political arguments. Online neighborhood interaction actually made me LESS interested in meeting neighbors in person

Kids were always the connective tissue between families. With helicopter parenting + screens, children don't roam freely anymore, so parents never meet organically. Our grandparents knew neighbors because kids played outside unsupervised, creating natural parent connections through children

Research on digital insularity shows modern homes increasingly function as self-contained entertainment centers rather than components of community ecosystems. This architectural and technological cocooning drives significant declines in social capital formation that once occurred naturally through proximity-based interactions

Recently bought Ring doorbell and ironically know neighbors better now? Something about seeing their daily patterns on camera made me more aware of who lives where. Now I notice when elderly neighbor hasn't gotten mail and check on him. Technology both isolated us AND can reconnect us in weird ways

Neighborhood culture directly reflects larger society. We've dismantled community institutions everywhere (churches, social clubs, bowling leagues, etc). Isolation isn't just technological - it's economic. People working multiple jobs have no bandwidth for relationships that don't serve immediate needs

My solution: I created "disaster preparedness group" for our street. Framed as practical rather than social, which attracted different personality types. Now we have contact list, know who has medical training, which tools everyone owns. Started as emergency planning, evolved into actual community

Schools used to be community hubs where parents naturally met. Now with school choice, kids scatter to different locations, eliminating that shared experience. My closest local friendships all came through PTA/school activities with families whose kids attended same school as mine