The pandemic has made a lot of things (everything?) about the city much worse while opening up an avenue to leave. Thus, many people have taken it.
As they're leaving behind a network, a likely fractured group of friends, and a never ending lockdown threat, it's created complicated feelings.
I made it a point that I would never return to California for as long as I lived (unless you're willing to pay me a lot).
For point of reference, I'm from NYC so this isn't a blue-state/red-state thing like it has become for a lot of people. There's something about the California vibe that does not mesh with me.
I'm not sure how exactly to say this, but I imagine it's a lot less worse for us than it could be if we worked in many other professions. I get the impressive that relative to a lot of careers and industries, our network and even friend group in many cases is much more global by nature.
Of course, you can't go throw a frisbee with your online friends, so they'll have to find new people to do those things with. I guess I'm just trying to say that if there's any demographic that could keep in touch if they want to, I get the impression that we're it.
How many times in a life do you move across the country with a spouse? I wouldn't call that routine, you need to ensure both of you can find new jobs etc, and likely they are thinking about their future kids and where they should be brought up. When you move on your own, sure, but the more things you add to your life the harder it gets.
There’s certainly valid reasons for wanting to move away. But these posts aren’t really saying anything new, they tend to feed off of each other creating an online impression of SF as some kind of hellhole.