5 ms·

You can still go out there and do things like join a running club. People are still going to arcades in Japan. Comments like these are kind of ironic.

ghurtado 9mo ago
> Comments like these are kind of ironic. Why, because there is one country in the world where this doesn't apply? It's a commentary on modern Western culture, not a request for hobby suggestions.
- random9749832 9mo ago
  >not a request for hobby suggestions Of course it's not. Why look at anything positive or actually do something when you can instead engage in the tired tropes like looking at the past with rose tinted glasses as a way of comforting yourself.
  - phil21 9mo ago
    You can be as positive as you want to be, and should absolutely take action and do things to better socialize. But to pretend it’s remotely the same as it was 40 years ago is utterly ridiculous. Now when you do such things like a running club you are joining a group of very self-selecting people who for the most part have a certain personality type. You simply do not get the diversity in group experiences as there used to be. It was either go through social discomfort or sit alone bored with zero social interaction. Now the friction to get that social dopamine hit is extremely low bar, and going beyond it the bar has been raised considerably. Not to mention doing stuff like running club or rock climbing just feeds into the hyper-scheduled world the west has become. Spontaneous social interaction is important too, and those third places are increasingly scarce and involve far more friction. Which again self-selects for certain personality types and lifestyles. For some people these changes are positive - much easier to find niche activities to do with others. For other people they are extremely negative.
    - Barrin92 9mo ago
      >Now when you do such things like a running club you are joining a group of very self-selecting people I'd disagree with this pretty strongly. I do workshops at a makerspace in Berlin, which is in itself a pretty nerdy place but we've got everything from pensioners to middle aged moms to obviously a lot of people from the university or tech work. In much smaller cities not just here you'll find chess clubs, poetry slam groups, church choirs what have you. None of it hyper-scheduled or commercialized. I can't speak to what this was like 40 years ago I wasn't alive then but there's no shortage. I think the biggest difference is, people don't move. In the Western world mobility is at an all time low. If you were young and lived in a place where these opportunities didn't exist people literally just packed their bags and relocated. In the words of Morgan Freeman: https://youtu.be/oZcSivXEGys https://youtu.be/oZcSivXEGys
      - phil21 9mo ago
        I definitely agree that a big part of it is how immobile people are these days. What I meant by hyperscheduled is that typically these activities revolve around setting a schedule in advance for everyone to commit to and plan around. This sort of thing simply does not work for me. At all. Maybe once every couple months or so. For example my local makerspace requires at least days (if not weeks) advance booking for most tools. When I’m in a project mood or want to meet up with friends to hack on something it will be more of a “hey let’s go figure this out, meet you there in an hour!” situation. What I personally miss are the social clubs/spaces - heck even neighborhood pubs - that used to exist as simple meeting points. Whoever was there happened to be there and you’d tend to slowly make more social connections over time. You show up when you felt like showing up, and probably find a handful of casual friends there no matter when you’d go. There is an extreme dearth of such impromptu meeting points/gathering hubs at least where I live. If you want to meet with friends you typically are going to schedule it a few days out - even if it’s meeting up for drinks after work. With work from home that’s even far less of a thing since even coworkers are geographically dispersed vs. cutting out of work 30 minutes early to go grab drinks at the bar around the corner. By the time I get through my exhausting work calendar each week all I want is some control over my day back - and let the day go by feels vs a calendar. This is the largest difference other than social media I’ve felt over the past few decades.
pezezin 9mo ago
Nowadays' Japanese arcades are not like the ones GP is describing, most players don't interact with each other directly anymore. Notable exceptions are places like Mikado centers that organize tournaments and keep the old flame alive.
- huimang 9mo ago
  I don't think the culture is the same due to cabinets having network capabilities now, but I do think it's possible. At the taito station in Akihabara, I've met tourists a few times when I was in town for a large tournament (EVO Japan) and made friends from it. I've also had people watching me play, but unfortunately I don't speak Japanese. I know there's a few arcades that still have some street fighter III: third strike cabinets with regulars. I can't speak for other games but at least for street fighter, people are almost always open and friendly.
- wesapien 9mo ago
  I was there 2 years ago. I went inside one of the multi storey gaming places in Akihabara. The old school (90's and older) era games are a small section in one floor when there is 6 storeys of gaming.
  - pezezin 9mo ago
    That sounds like the Taito Station on the right side of the street. On the other side there is a Gigo with a whole floor for retro games, and Hey! that is focused almost only on retro games.

ghurtado 9mo ago

> Comments like these are kind of ironic. Why, because there is one country in the world where this doesn't apply? It's a commentary on modern Western culture, not a request for hobby suggestions.

random9749832 9mo ago
>not a request for hobby suggestions Of course it's not. Why look at anything positive or actually do something when you can instead engage in the tired tropes like looking at the past with rose tinted glasses as a way of comforting yourself.
- phil21 9mo ago
  You can be as positive as you want to be, and should absolutely take action and do things to better socialize. But to pretend it’s remotely the same as it was 40 years ago is utterly ridiculous. Now when you do such things like a running club you are joining a group of very self-selecting people who for the most part have a certain personality type. You simply do not get the diversity in group experiences as there used to be. It was either go through social discomfort or sit alone bored with zero social interaction. Now the friction to get that social dopamine hit is extremely low bar, and going beyond it the bar has been raised considerably. Not to mention doing stuff like running club or rock climbing just feeds into the hyper-scheduled world the west has become. Spontaneous social interaction is important too, and those third places are increasingly scarce and involve far more friction. Which again self-selects for certain personality types and lifestyles. For some people these changes are positive - much easier to find niche activities to do with others. For other people they are extremely negative.
  - Barrin92 9mo ago
    >Now when you do such things like a running club you are joining a group of very self-selecting people I'd disagree with this pretty strongly. I do workshops at a makerspace in Berlin, which is in itself a pretty nerdy place but we've got everything from pensioners to middle aged moms to obviously a lot of people from the university or tech work. In much smaller cities not just here you'll find chess clubs, poetry slam groups, church choirs what have you. None of it hyper-scheduled or commercialized. I can't speak to what this was like 40 years ago I wasn't alive then but there's no shortage. I think the biggest difference is, people don't move. In the Western world mobility is at an all time low. If you were young and lived in a place where these opportunities didn't exist people literally just packed their bags and relocated. In the words of Morgan Freeman: https://youtu.be/oZcSivXEGys https://youtu.be/oZcSivXEGys
    - phil21 9mo ago
      I definitely agree that a big part of it is how immobile people are these days. What I meant by hyperscheduled is that typically these activities revolve around setting a schedule in advance for everyone to commit to and plan around. This sort of thing simply does not work for me. At all. Maybe once every couple months or so. For example my local makerspace requires at least days (if not weeks) advance booking for most tools. When I’m in a project mood or want to meet up with friends to hack on something it will be more of a “hey let’s go figure this out, meet you there in an hour!” situation. What I personally miss are the social clubs/spaces - heck even neighborhood pubs - that used to exist as simple meeting points. Whoever was there happened to be there and you’d tend to slowly make more social connections over time. You show up when you felt like showing up, and probably find a handful of casual friends there no matter when you’d go. There is an extreme dearth of such impromptu meeting points/gathering hubs at least where I live. If you want to meet with friends you typically are going to schedule it a few days out - even if it’s meeting up for drinks after work. With work from home that’s even far less of a thing since even coworkers are geographically dispersed vs. cutting out of work 30 minutes early to go grab drinks at the bar around the corner. By the time I get through my exhausting work calendar each week all I want is some control over my day back - and let the day go by feels vs a calendar. This is the largest difference other than social media I’ve felt over the past few decades.

pezezin 9mo ago

Nowadays' Japanese arcades are not like the ones GP is describing, most players don't interact with each other directly anymore. Notable exceptions are places like Mikado centers that organize tournaments and keep the old flame alive.

huimang 9mo ago
I don't think the culture is the same due to cabinets having network capabilities now, but I do think it's possible. At the taito station in Akihabara, I've met tourists a few times when I was in town for a large tournament (EVO Japan) and made friends from it. I've also had people watching me play, but unfortunately I don't speak Japanese. I know there's a few arcades that still have some street fighter III: third strike cabinets with regulars. I can't speak for other games but at least for street fighter, people are almost always open and friendly.
wesapien 9mo ago
I was there 2 years ago. I went inside one of the multi storey gaming places in Akihabara. The old school (90's and older) era games are a small section in one floor when there is 6 storeys of gaming.
- pezezin 9mo ago
  That sounds like the Taito Station on the right side of the street. On the other side there is a Gigo with a whole floor for retro games, and Hey! that is focused almost only on retro games.