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Comment by safog | Hacker News Reader

You overestimate our cultural attention span :)

Anyway, even with COVID + Rioting, I'd much rather live in a big city than in the countryside.

I don't know, these things tend to burn into your memory. Living in the sfbay I am moving out, things that drove me away are numerable. Covid-19, looting/excessive violence w/ riots, and before that a year earlier random power outages due to wind affecting millions (from pg&e), also out of control wildfires burning up large areas of the state. Combining that with the highest taxes in the US and both me and my wife in tech with great salaries but not being able to afford pennisula/sf area(owning a house) makes anywhere but here look amazing.

Incidentally, I think this is the real harm of social media. I really believe our collective attention span is being decreased by infinite-scrolling feeds of content that demands nothing of the user other than clicking a little heart icon.

Long term, sure. But there's little point in paying $$$ for a tiny place when everything is closed due to Covid. Why not decamp for the suburbs/parent's house for a year and save 20-30k?

I didn't decamp to my parents house because they are in the age group that's at risk for COVID-19, and I'd rather not kill my parents than save some money.

I think this one's definitely happening.

The cost of renewing your lease and staying in the bay area vs simply moving out for the year to your parents' house / LCOL area where if it really comes down to it, you can simply break your lease much easier is an easy trade-off.

It happened once before: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_flight

These people have figured out how to have their cake and eat it too. Major cities in the US have grown large enough that the ghettos can be reasonably far from the wealthier parts of town. That, plus racial profiling from both police and citizens, serves as an effective divide.

There's a major spectrum of lifestyles between big city and countryside.

why?

Amenities. Not having to drive everywhere. Good internet. Rural areas are more conservative in general (I'm talking about the cultural sense, not economic) so that can be stifling for a lot of people.

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