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July 2nd, 2007
09:08 pm - The Seattle Freeze has been solved!... or, at least its cause has been figured out.
So ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) tiff_seattle posted a video on ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) seattle earlier today. It's a little mini-documentary piece from UW on the Seattle Freeze phenomenon.
Most of you reading are local and have already heard of this a dozen times. For non-locals and the otherwise uninitiated, read this. If you're totally lacking for time, basically, people in Seattle are polite but if you're trying to meet new people, it's really hard to get to know said new people. Things like meeting people in cafes and bars and eventually making friends with them are mostly unheard of unless they're friends of friends, friends of family or other colleagues.
ANYWAY, Tiffany posted this video and the usual polarized firestorm, of vehemient denial from some locals and agreement/validation of the phenomenon from others, resulted. I couldn't watch it when it was initially posted because my workplace firewall blocks streaming media. So after the Mariners gagged up an extra inning game against the Royals, I watched it just now.
And one thing stuck out like a sore thumb, and probably nailed the issue dead on. A UW sociologist said that what we are witnessing is actually part of a larger national trend, that people in every city have been acting this way recently, and while it was hinted at in the video, I'm gonna say it point blank.
It's because of the internet culture.
We interact with one another in isolation: we leave each other comments on LJ and other places, messages on message boards and such. We get to know people in town and around the world this way. This phenomenon makes it harder to congregate in person and meet people, as people at large are more socially withdrawn, as that's the lifestyle of people these days. Even IM technology is centered around one on one conversation, something mostly done by friends who already know each other.
We can go on the internet and find people who are like us. We aren't tied to the people physically around us, people we don't necessarily relate to or get along with. Therefore, unlike past generations, we aren't compelled to interact with the world around us, because unlike in the past, we aren't forced to go out and meet people in person if we want to make friends with new people.
Since no one NEEDS to meet people in public, hardly anyone really seeks out social relationships cold turkey in public. Sure, we meet new people through friends and family, or we meet up with classmates and coworkers, and maybe meet new friends that way, conventional means. But outside of that, aside from being polite, we cut people off emotionally. We interact as much as is necessary, but we keep the walls up. That's where we're seeing the Seattle Freeze... except it's also the New York Freeze, and the San Francisco Freeze and the Chicago Freeze and so on.
This is not to slam any of you friends I know here. I like you guys just fine. But this cultural movement is a definite phenomenon that has definitely reshaped the way we approach the world.
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Comments:
I could not agree more.
Really, I couldn't.
did you ever watch that seaquest show? there was an episode about this sort of thing.
Gotta disagree. Not that your argument isn't sound and based on current evidence; it is . . . kinda. The only problem I can see is that the "freeze" has been around since before the internet.
I remember friends from college complaining about just this phenom. We still had typewriters, fer cryin' in the night.
In fact, now that I think of it, the phenom may date back to one of the UW's most famous grads, Ted Bundy. Wildly personable, from what I heard from those that met/dated him/crept out his basement window. I remember when he escaped from Colorado. Stepmom (who fit Ted's "type") had us up all night with guns out and lights blazin.' He inspired terror back then.
This might be one example of a seemingly anomolous phemonenon's origin lost to those that just got in the habit and forgot the reason.
I'll have to check out the video, though, just to see what the experts say.
INNNNNNNNNNNNteresting. This entry was, in part, an attempt to give up the ghost with the Seattle Freeze, but if the phenomenon predates the internet...
... they also mentioned the Nordic heritage of the natives and how Nords are averse to physical contact and deep emotional connections. A factor, perhaps?
However, looking at the rest of the nation... the phenomenon is starting to manifest itself elsewhere as well. This is interesting.
I zeroed in on the Scandinavian comment when she mentioned it. It's supposedly the reason for the preponderance of strong coffee, a Northern European staple. My local family branch comes from similar German stock (well, German-Irish, but the dominant side was totally Germanic).
In college, a professor noted the different levels of reserve between northern and southern US society. Northerly, they tend to be reserved, having few friends but to have very close bonds to those they call friends. In the south, given the whole extended family situation and the Southern Hospitality tradition, they tend to be more outgoing "since you never know if the person you're talking to is a cousin." However, though they have more "friends," they tend to not be as close to those friends.
Remember the tale of the Ballard man who loved his wife so much . . . he almost told her.
I noticed this in 1992 when I moved here, long before the internet was in every home.
I am as guilty as anyone else, though. I have a hard time with the social interaction.
I mentioned it to peristaltor above, but the video mentions that the Nordic heritage of the natives may be a factor, as the Nordic culture is traditionally averse to physical contact and slow to develop emotional connections with friends.
I think it has a lot to do with the big city mentality, too. I was raised not to talk to strangers because they could be dangerous. My parents were raised in the country where everyone left their doors unlocked and never had to worry about crime or anything. But I was raised in the city & they never let me out of their sight. I'm sure it made me a less friendly person than I would have been if I had been raised in a small town.
![[User Picture]](http://l-userpic.livejournal.com/52216182/822473) | | From: | mcfnord |
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| Date: | July 3rd, 2007 08:39 am (UTC) |
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| | the narrator can beat you at poker *and* pinball. | (Link) |
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i don't want an e-romance.
sunday i got together with hippies and sang. over the years i've made many friends at contact dance. nowadays i make casual friends at the ymca, because people just talk in the sauna where i do yoga. so friendly groups and settings exist, regardless of the overall trend. michael dobbie calls to get me to drive him to the georgetown streetfair, or the beach, and i have a great time. michael dobbie makes friends everywhere. maybe it's just the artists and the hippies who want to get to know you. it's not reasonable to expect three-figure belltown androids to be friendly. the work fries their brain and they forget what life's all about. so would i, if not for the people and traditions that are committed to it.
![[User Picture]](http://l-userpic.livejournal.com/63462015/106251) | | | Makes sense, though one line sticks out | (Link) |
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the work fries their brain and they forget what life's all about.
Big city people do live busy lives... think about it, it takes the average urbanite more effort to commute, run errands etc., than someone who lives in a less bustling locale. Not as much traffic, not as much basic effort to get from A to B (transit, walking, navigating heavy traffic etc.) means less mental energy expended.
I admit this is a crack theory: Once the weekend comes, the average urbanite is spent, and would rather not stray too far form his/her comfort zones, meaning a reluctance to get to know new people.
When I think of "Beltown's six-figure urbanites," I actually have three specific guys in mind. I know they make freaking $150,000/yr, and they're good guys, but how could their minds not get fried doing that work? (Software development.) And I do think it's the work. My own work takes Mr. Mind and chokes him, shouting, "THINK ABOUT THE CORPORATION'S PROBLEMS!" all day long. It is hard to turn this off on Friday, because after a while it leaves little to turn on in its place. After I did a whole year at Microsoft, I was financially way out of my big mess, but it took months for me to remember who I am and what I like to do. Now I work much shorter terms, but there's always some of this going on for me. That's why I insist on the high wage and cheap living. In that corporate environment, people talk a lot, about a zillion words a minute, and sometimes they socialize, but it lacks the level of thoughtfulness and meaning I find with hippy singers or dancers, who talk slowly and carefully, no rush. I'm somewhere in the middle, chiding myself for rushing with the dancers, or lagging just a little behind the perma-geeks.
| From: | jsl32 |
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| Date: | July 4th, 2007 08:44 pm (UTC) |
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| | hippies talk slow due to excessive hallucinant consumption | (Link) |
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at least, all the ones i know speak slowly for that reason...
That's why I took a break from blogging!! :) (Of course, as you will note right here, I am still commenting early and often). However, my theory was that it would force me to get out and be public and seek out/build up real-world friendships. Sadly, instead it just means that I've spent more time with Jack Bauer & Co. But... it's a good theory! I just wish I had the discipline to get myself out of the house (er, office) more often ;) |
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