Comment by justtemporary | Hacker News Reader

Comment by justtemporary | Hacker News Reader

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I’m from Melbourne, Australia and was recently in the United States. I definitely found American strangers far more likely to randomly struck up conversations with you in public spaces. I spent just over 5 months there between California and Colorado, and was constantly caught off guard by strangers trying to stop and talk to me - usually older adults.

Not wanting to stereotype too generally, but from talking to other Aussies about it we chalked it up to a higher level of self-confidence over there.

I know I definitely struggle to talk to strangers, though in part because you really just don’t know what you’re going to get sometimes! It was the part of travelling that I thoroughly enjoyed as a young 20-something. I was thrust into situations (hostels, bars, etc.) that forced me to overcome my shyness.

Time is an illusion. Science tells us it's linear, measured in precise nano-seconds. But humans measure time differently, it's based more on the depth of connection we have to others. You can have a life-changing event in a day, or waste away doing nothing for a decade. The more connected one is to the surrounding people and environment, the denser and more fulfilling time becomes.

I found that very poetic and beautiful.

I'm also from Melbourne, and have lived in California for fifteen years. I put what you describe down to how often people move in America vs Australia.

In Australia, many people tend to stay in the same city for most of their lives, whereas America is full of people who go to high school in one state, university in another, and work in more - even those who stay in the same state often move cities (America has way more cities with way fewer people) they are constantly making new friends.

This means things like: in my 20s in Melbourne, parties tended to consist of friends who've known each other for a long time. In America, the host often didn't know everyone at the party because the invitation is open.

Canberra is actually a little more similar to America - most who live there came from somewhere else, so the social situation is much more open.

> but from talking to other Aussies about it we chalked it up to a higher level of self-confidence over there.

What do you mean exactly?

Not GP, but: That Americans are blocked from interactions they would otherwise like to have by their own social anxiety and low self-confidence to a lesser extent.

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