I posted on another subthread but I think this is largely an excuse. If you live in a typical suburb you have 15-20 families on your street. You can easily walk next door and chat or just say hello when you see someone outside. It takes initiative, which is the key thing that's missing. You either hide in your house or you get out and be sociable.

> You can easily walk next door and chat or just say hello when you see someone outside.

I have no problem with socialization and I have an unusually-active social life for a thirty-eight year old married man with three kids, so I clearly don't lack initiative.

With that being said, all of my neighbors are either elderly, shut-ins, or just don't want to be bothered; even the ones with kids.

My wife & I helped organize a Block Party last year and I'm fairly certain it resulted in 0 new friendships for any of the attendees.

What's the solution here? Friendships need to have mutual interest, no?

I think it's a circular problem. Like, my kids don't go outside much because there are no other kids outside to play with.

There's no question that there are 15-20 families within 300 yards of my house. But that group of people absolutely does not have a sense of shared anything but the road.

And the fact is that this is true of the supermajority of suburban streets in the United States.