Well, maybe the title sorta exaggerates what I'm talking about, but...
Is it true that city people tend to be "crazier" than people who live in the country? Crazy as in, life is more of a bad mix of rush and stress, and your behavior tends to get more impatient and antisocial as time passes.
On Cities and Human Insanity
Moderator: Alyrium Denryle
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BloodAngel
- Padawan Learner
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- Joined: 2005-05-25 10:47pm
- Location: DON'T GET TOO CLOSE OR ELSE!!!
I don't know about 'crazier' but city life is definitely faster-paced and probably more defensive. I saw a really interesting documentary on the subject. The doco was about a huge monkey colony at some temple complex in South East Asia.
The researchers noticed that the monkey's acted like humans do in huge numbers (ie in cities) in that they tended to form small groups of 'friends' numbering no more than 30 or 40 and tended to restrict their social interactions to these groups while being more hostile/defensive with individuals from other groups.
The idea was that the monkeys, like humans, were really never meant to exist in such large groups in one place (the monkeys were fed by the monks at the temple, breeding until they numbered in the tens of thousands) and so they adapted socially in similar ways to people in cities. Humans' 'natural' social groups tended to be small tribal groups (as with the monkeys) and living in the midst of huge numbers, the monkeys formed tribes within tribes, much as people do in cities.
The monkey groups looked after individual members, but didn't show the same concern for members of other monkey groups, forming a more 'anti-social' society in general.
I don't know about city life being more stressful. I'm a city boy and I turn into an aggravated bastard in small towns. It depends on one's upbringing I guess. Small towns drive me mad for lack of things to do (other than hitting on country girls who are bored with the local boys
) and the whole 'small towns breed small minds' thing. So for me small towns are vastly more stressful than cities. However, I know quite a few people who are the opposite and can't stand the 'impersonal' nature of city life.
Besides if you want to know about stress just ask a farmer who's in his fourth year of drought if he feels relaxed. Most farming people I've ever known have heaps to worry about, which is often made worse by the fact that many of the things they have to worry about are things like rain, livestock disease etc, which they can't influence.
The researchers noticed that the monkey's acted like humans do in huge numbers (ie in cities) in that they tended to form small groups of 'friends' numbering no more than 30 or 40 and tended to restrict their social interactions to these groups while being more hostile/defensive with individuals from other groups.
The idea was that the monkeys, like humans, were really never meant to exist in such large groups in one place (the monkeys were fed by the monks at the temple, breeding until they numbered in the tens of thousands) and so they adapted socially in similar ways to people in cities. Humans' 'natural' social groups tended to be small tribal groups (as with the monkeys) and living in the midst of huge numbers, the monkeys formed tribes within tribes, much as people do in cities.
The monkey groups looked after individual members, but didn't show the same concern for members of other monkey groups, forming a more 'anti-social' society in general.
I don't know about city life being more stressful. I'm a city boy and I turn into an aggravated bastard in small towns. It depends on one's upbringing I guess. Small towns drive me mad for lack of things to do (other than hitting on country girls who are bored with the local boys
) and the whole 'small towns breed small minds' thing. So for me small towns are vastly more stressful than cities. However, I know quite a few people who are the opposite and can't stand the 'impersonal' nature of city life. Besides if you want to know about stress just ask a farmer who's in his fourth year of drought if he feels relaxed. Most farming people I've ever known have heaps to worry about, which is often made worse by the fact that many of the things they have to worry about are things like rain, livestock disease etc, which they can't influence.
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outcast
- Padawan Learner
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- Location: Northern Delta Metro-zone, The Netherlands
If you ask me, it's country life that makes people crazy, just look at all the rednecks and other inbred and dark age mentalities going around in some of those places. I'm sure that city life causes more stress, but it also causes what i like to call more 'sane' mentalities towards things in life. Not in everyone mind you, but in general. Just compare the mentalities in general of highly urbanized areas to those of more rural areas. They're fairly different i would say. Urban dwellers seem far more tolerant and open in general.
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wolveraptor
- Sith Marauder
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You can't afford to be a racist if your boss or coworkers are as diverse as an average group of city people, for example. The interaction with massive numbers of people who you barely know, many of which are essential to your well-being, means that any judgements or preconceptions kept to one's self.
"If one needed proof that a guitar was more than wood and string, that a song was more than notes and words, and that a man could be more than a name and a few faded pictures, then Robert Johnson’s recordings were all one could ask for."
- Herb Bowie, Reason to Rock
- Herb Bowie, Reason to Rock