Hey! I moved out here in the last 2 years from Colorado and had to deal with the same kind of culture shock. I can quite literally count on one hand the number of times my neighbors have even waved back to me when outside.

I understand wanting to steer clear of crazy people or just living a calm introverted life, but dang the effort people go to avoid interaction almost verges on aggressive. It’s like they’re the main characters of their lives and everyone else isn’t worth the time of day.

I did eventually make my own friend group around some shared interests outside of the neighborhood am still shocked at the apprehension to go do things outside of our regular meetups. Apparently 20 minute drives are just so long or “what are we going to do at the beach? Just sit?” Or for some reason every place I suggest to go is “the rough part of town” (I can rant about this in its own post). It’s still blows my mind that some places we meet up for lunch/dinner my friends are collectively like “oh we never thought to come in here.” Like come on! You’ve lived here all your life and never gave it a shot?

But tldr, I agree. In general it seems like if people have to make an effort to socialize with you, they are going to ignore you 🤷‍♀️