Any time I go to a large city im exhausted by being charged for doing anything. How do people have fun if theyre poor(the neat part, you dont, probably). And to make it worse many of them probably have a 1 bedroom apartment so its not like you can sit in there all day long (at least i cant).
I realize im still spending money by being in my house out of town, but still, at least things I buy are owned by me, and im not paying someone else every time I want to do anything. If I want to stay at home all day I have tons of stuff to occupy my mind without going nuts.
I figure 98% of lemmy users live in big cities so id like to hear this perspective!
This has little if anything to do with being in a city, and more to do with how expensive a person’s tastes are.
Making fun for oneself is easy if need are simple. I enjoy a walk with another human because I’d rather do that than go to a shitty steakhouse. I’ll make art on a Saturday afternoon, or cook. There’s always free events of all kinds just check the local promotion groups. Lots of local socializing and board game groups. Bird watching. Bike rides are effectively free, so is going for a picnic in an area you haven’t been to.
Grab a ball and go to the park. Get some unsalted sunflower seeds at the dollar store and feed the chickadees. Hit the local Ultimate pick-up game. Go to a bar and *gasp* don’t drink and just enjoy the live music. Hell if $20 is in the inventory, go to the pinball arcade for 2 hours.
You can have fun for $10K and you can have fun for $0, it’s up to you.
Minecraft was like $20 and I’ve probably put 10,000 hours into it
They don’t.
That’s why they think cities are the only places in the world worth living. If there’s not an endless sea of shit to waste their money on, they’re lost.
swinger orgies
Library and park?
In my small country town where I live. I am miles from anything there is lovely parks that are free but I have to drive there. Anything I want to do at home I have to buy. In the city where I work my job gives me puppy days, baseball events, free massages etc etc. In walking distance from work and if I were to live in the luxury apartments near by I had a beer garden(free to hang out or relatively cheap to enter like 5$ a wrist band) in the beer garden we had corn hole and lots of bar games free to use. I have a riverwalk, an art museum, a real cheap dinosaur museum, and tons of public parks with movie events and local stargazing clubs etc also more pickup sports games since more people. In the city there is tons of 3rd places that let you hang out for an hour or more for less than $20 with tons of people.
At home it costs me 5$ in gas to drive anywhere and 15 mins to get to the closest thing and will cost me the same $20 in my rural town to hang out in my 3rd place with 0 young people or just the same 5 locals. If I have a hangout at home with stuff I purchased all my friends live 30 + mins away if I made plans to fit their schedule. My local parks are neat if I wanted to walk or do things solo or had a local friend group but that is lots of planning and no one is using the facilities normally. I think 1 local park has a movie night for Halloween once a year
Essentially the city has everything rural does in amenities but just more of them closer together so there is more free things and with more people there is more possible random fun if you are outgoing. Vs rural you have to plan your fun, travel further and have less access to more of everything. But if you have everything at your house and are more of introvert it is a bit better. One of the reasons Why people like to retire to the suburbs is they have access to alot of the city things they like but have just enough room to have all the things they want at home
i stay home.
I too stay home, and I smoke a bowl.
sounds like a good time
The issues is that you are GOING to the city. One you live there, you have all your stuff and do your normal thing. You cook at home and play videos games, then read books before walking your dog to the park by your friend’s house. Basically: don’t extrapolate from the perspective of a tourist.
Yep you nailed it! This has given me good insight.
I still couldn’t handle living in one, but for extroverts or college kids I see the appeal. I need wide-open spaces and lots of trees myself.
I still couldn’t handle living in one, but for extroverts
What ? I am an introvert. Cities are the best place for that. I lived in a mud brick cabin off grid in the forest and had more people visiting then I ever did when i lived for 3 years in the city. I put that down to rural exrtroverts would get bored and need other people.
In the city, I used to cycle to the beach, swin in the ocean, have a couple boiled eggs and a banana on a chair near the beach, catch up on some doom scrolling and cycle home etc i lived car free and saved a fortune, got exercise and was able to see the ciry instead of just sitting in trafdic. I used to cycke over to a set of mountain bike tracks and ride in the bush, then ride home.
Now live in a small rural village with my parter and fuck me, people always coming over.
Shitty air, no nature and constant noise are the downsides of city living.
I’m a strong introvert. People stop being people once their number goes past 10 or so. Then you are just looking at an amorphous fluid that you pass through just like air or water. Honestly you don’t notice the people, you notice the buildings, subways, etc.
You didn’t name a single thing that you’re being charged to do……
What do you do outside of a city for free that you can’t do in a city for free?
It’s not free, but owning property is huge.
Most of the city people will never own property in the cities they dwell in.
If all you do in a major city is sit in your house and play on your computer, you could do that elsewhere without having to pays tens of thousands of dollars on rent.
You ever try to fuck a sheep in a city?
Parks are usually nice, free events often happen every weekend you just have to look up results for your city. Art museums and galleries usually have one day out the week (sometimes month) that’s free entry. Rarer but some small improv places have open mic and comedy that’s entertaining. Libraries sometimes have free group meets where they teach you random stuff or have experts in fields come in. Good place to meet new people
Your impression of a city is probably skewed by how you interact with it. If you drive in, pay for parking, go to events or attractions, eat out, etc. it all adds up. But that’s not necessarily the experience of someone who lives in a city. They’re living their life, not sightseeing.
Walks (less nature, more architecture), go-out in parks. Free museums and cultural event (you have to know the city a bit to know place and times), librairies, charity work, outside sport in the park or the street…
I think you cannot do activities that requires a large natural space or absolue quiet or isolation but unlike small town or country side, you can do all the think that requires grouping lots of people much more easily.
I go to the park, visit friends, join clubs, do volunteer activities, play with pets, visit garden centers (just to look), walk along the river, etc.
Friends. Yes, you’ll probably spend more to do events.
But the good friendships, you end up just hanging out - wasting time at a park, going for a walk around the neighborhood, having dinner together.
Hah, let me turn this around - what do you do for fun without a whole city to explore? Hike, swim in the creek/at the beach, BBQ with friends? Same here, we just do the first two in public places (parks, pools or community beach, etc)
