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darkpaladin t1_itpnyep wrote

Reply to comment by Wild_Garlic in Rather than heralding a new era of prosperity for rural and remote regions, remote working, inspired by the pandemic, is exacerbating the global urban-rural divide in the digital platform labour market by giuliomagnifico

I think what we're gonna find out long term is that people just like living in cities. Let's say moving to the country nets you 20k in additional disposable income. That sounds great as a millennial until you realize there's nothing to spend it on. Also your only grocery choice is Walmart. Also in storms your power goes out for days instead of hours. Also any repair you need takes longer and has transportation costs added on, assuming you can even find a professional.

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TootsNYC t1_itpr8mp wrote

I grew up in a small rural town. My parents deliberately retired to a city because my mom wanted to be closer to health care services as she aged. (I had cancer as a kid, and we had to go to a city for treatment, which meant hotel stays, etc)

And she wanted to be able to call a taxi to go to the doctor when they got too frail to drive, instead of having to rely on the kindness of her neighbors

It’s not just young people who prefer cities

The big problem is that intermediate cities are shrinking

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darkpaladin t1_itps95m wrote

That could be a happy middle ground, try and offload from major cities to smaller cities until the cost of living balances out.

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Chroderos t1_itqx2ui wrote

College towns are what you are looking for.

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therapist122 t1_itrc6yg wrote

Yep walkability and public transit are godsends for the disabled and elderly. Let's you have independence. It doesn't have to be just cities, suburbs could be this way too but we build everything for car dependency.

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Wild_Garlic t1_itpoe90 wrote

Many of those things you mentioned have solutions but would require a pretty dramatic policy change in the United States. I wonder how applicable those scenarios are in other countries.

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darkpaladin t1_itpp2vs wrote

The sheer amount of infrastructure required makes it near impossible to address at scale. Problems like this are why cities exist in the first place. By the time you add enough amenities to make a place appealing to live, you'll have driven the cost of housing up enough that is not financially attractive anymore.

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Wild_Garlic t1_itps5cn wrote

I mean...it was done with other utilities.

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darkpaladin t1_itpsudc wrote

Yes and no. Sure these houses have power and phone lines but both are flakey and outages last a long time because they're low priority for repair. You could add internet to that but remote workers can't just disappear for 3-5 days cause a storm rolled through last night. Even then, food and entertainment options are severely lacking.

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sanciscoyo t1_itpv21e wrote

Where specifically are you referring to in the US that power and telephone lines are flaky and low priority for repair? This is kind of ridiculous, and I think you’re partially making up a problem in your head. Maybe there’s a few isolated individuals where that is the case, but it would literally only be a few thousand people

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darkpaladin t1_itpzgmm wrote

People I know in rural Texas and my extended family that comes from rural Illinois.

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QuickComplaint9 t1_itqh3ag wrote

That's because Texas privatized their electricity. AKA instead of being a government run service, they sold out to private companies who care only about profits.

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dirtyploy t1_itqkia5 wrote

And Illinois? I have seen similar issues in rural Michigan, friends in rural Virginia, and family in rural Florida

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blahblahsnickers t1_itsawj9 wrote

I am in Virginia and not even urban and still lost electricity for a week this past winter.

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TheGeneGeena t1_itqke44 wrote

It's very rare that it happens here, but we've had ice storms take out power for a week. The last time I remember it going out that long here was over a decade ago though (Arkansas), but Oklahoma had parts that went out close to that a couple of years ago.

The power companies here have done a lot of work burying their lines where they can. A lot of power lines can't be buried in parts the country for various geological reasons though, so outages are always a risk.

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QuickComplaint9 t1_itqgv1o wrote

You can live in a city and still work remote. Being in a city doesn't mean you should be forced to sit in an open box with dozens of people yapping at once under fluorescent lighting.

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Ratnix t1_itqek8j wrote

> Also any repair you need takes longer and has transportation costs added on, assuming you can even find a professional.

That's going to depend on how rural you are.

I live in a rural area. I found a hole in my main drain pipe Saturday. I called a plumber and he was there in less than an hour and had it fixed up in a jiffy. I've never had problems getting a professional out for anything.

Rural doesn't mean living hours away from any town.

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AggravatedBox t1_itqkow9 wrote

It’s exactly this. I live in a small town in the Deep South and have a remote job. I’m not planning on moving to a huge city by any means, but I am moving to a more mid-sized town so that I have access to a Trader Joe’s, Target, an airport, bigger hospital, etc. Right now, all of those things are an hour drive from me. My neighbor recently had a baby and the nearest L&D was a 45 minute drive. Sure, my money stretches farther here but it’s at significant cost to my quality of life.

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Randomfactoid42 t1_itr4mec wrote

Actually living in the county can easily eat up your hypothetical $20k pretty quick. You have to drive lots of miles every week for things. You probably have a bit of land, so you'll need more than a little mower. Your doctor is now 20-50 miles away, depending on type of doctor. In some areas, there's not a lot of professionals, so you're on your own for plumbing, home repairs, etc. So, yes, the house is very affordable, but you can rack up some expenses pretty quick.

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MiaowaraShiro t1_itqdyde wrote

A lot of that is fixable with modern technology like solar power, backup generators and satellite/cellular communications.

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LongWalk86 t1_itq2yus wrote

So you save an extra 20k, which is nice, but there is nothing to spend it on, except the more expensive repairs and generator? What is it you were hoping to spend your money on that the country isn't providing? This really just sounds like living in the country doesn't personally appeal to you, so it's just dumb. Have you ever lived in the country? Yes the hobbies and past times are different, the community smaller, but there really is not less to do or to spend your money on.

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davidellis23 t1_itqdhzd wrote

I imagine there's less (and lower quality) stuff like ethnic food, concerts (especially niche music like kpop), plays, comedy shows, bouldering gyms, conventions, niche meetups, karaoke bars, universities, escape rooms, vr arcades, acro yoga, museums, niche sports courts, hot air balloons, amateur sports leagues/tournaments.

I know rural areas have tons of nature activities. Urbanites usually aren't that interested in hunting/fishing. We hike sometimes. paint ball and parasailing may draw urbanites.

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Chroderos t1_itqy4ao wrote

I grew up rural and live in a smallish rural town / small city (With some basic amenities and good internet) after having lived in a major city for a few years. With so much entertainment now being piped directly to our houses, the only thing I really miss is that we have no affordable public racquetball courts. A 5 minute commute to work and being able to live like a king in a low CoL area definitely make up for that.

Sometimes I miss the city, but if I’m honest with myself, I’m too busy to engage in most of those things you mention more than a few times per year, during which time I’ll just go vacation or visit a large city. Same complaint from my family members who currently live in a large city: all kinds of offerings available, but no time or money to attend them. That being said, I’d love to retire to a big city when I actually have time and excess money to take advantage of what they have to offer.

The biggest drawbacks to living in the area are that you can get yourself in a lot of trouble with services if you leave the town. Got locked out of my car in a tiny nearby village and nearly had to smash a window in because there was literally no one available to open it for me.

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LongWalk86 t1_itqhiax wrote

So your argument is that the rural environment doesn't lend itself to the things YOU like to do. I was responding to a comment that claimed "people just like living in cities", as if this was some near universal truth, when that is far from the case.

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davidellis23 t1_itqm2g1 wrote

I was answering this question: "What is it you were hoping to spend your money on that the country isn't providing?"

But, i do suspect there is objectively less to do and spend your money on if we could figure out a way to quantify it.

Definitely not everyone wants to live in a city. But I think oc was about people who already live in cities. I suspect most people in cities aren't looking to move to the country side. Maybe to the suburbs or smaller cities. I think some urbanites romanticize country life, but the reality wouldn't agree with them.

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QuickComplaint9 t1_itqhgkn wrote

None of those activities sound appealing to me except museums. And how often do you realistically visit a museum? Maybe once every three years?

Also have you been to a rural area? Not sure what you consider "ethnic food" but most rural areas in the US have authentic Mexican food at the very least. Is that not "exotic" enough for you?

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dirtyploy t1_itql2fq wrote

Indian, Korean, Thai, I could name a ton I wish was in my area.

Having a single Mexican restaurant isn't "exotic." Just cuz it is authentic doesn't mean they do a good job at it...

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Turdulator t1_itqnzto wrote

Dining options are by far the worst part of rural living (I’ve done both)…. In a decent city you can have Thai for lunch and Ethiopian for dinner, then the next day Mexican and Japanese, then Russian and Peruvian… then Vietnamese and Brazilian ….. then Italian and Hawaiian ….. and that’s just one work week, you can do a whole different set of options the following week. In a small rural town there’s like 3-4 sit down restaurants total, and you just have to rotate those three constantly or drive an hour to the next town over for a slightly different group of 3-4 sit down spots.

For example, today on my lunch break I have eight different sit down restaurants to choose from that I can walk to from my office (Japanese sushi, thai, middle eastern, deli sandwiches, Japanese Ramen, Chinese, Mexican, Italian)…. And that’s close enough to walk there, eat, and come back all within an hour break….. if I’m willing to drive that number becomes like 30+ options. That’s just impossible anywhere rural.

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cst-rdt t1_itqkdn4 wrote

> None of those activities sound appealing to me except museums.

You may not like those things, but many other people do.

> And how often do you realistically visit a museum? Maybe once every three years?

I go to a museum at least once a month, though I do travel extensively so I have more incentive to do so.

> most rural areas in the US have authentic Mexican food at the very least

As a person who has spent a substantial amount of time in both Mexico and rural areas of the United States, I think you and I may have different definitions of "authentic."

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BasicReputations t1_itq8dyr wrote

They never priced out a couple of side-by-sides and a toy trailer....

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cas13f t1_itqsy1j wrote

For real, people live in single-wides but own like $300k in recreational vehicles of all kinds.

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LongWalk86 t1_itqg7of wrote

Or a horses, or hobby farming, or starting and orchard. It's just a different lifestyle and the urban dwellers of Reddit are just as oblivious to it as most rednecks are to the appeal of a modern art museum.

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therapist122 t1_itrcg6d wrote

Come on. There's less stuff, by definition there's less stuff to do. It's quiet and peaceful. But if you don't like quiet and peaceful 24/7 then you have to go somewhere else

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LongWalk86 t1_itrl0qe wrote

I guess I'll have to break it to the guys down the street with the motocross dirt track and large gun range that there is just nothing to do out here but enjoy the peace and quiet. I know, I'll just ride my quad over there through the miles of trails in the state forest behind us and tell him. So quiet and boring...

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hamsterwheel t1_itqjujp wrote

So you're saying avocado toast really is contributing to gen Z poverty

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