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re: Small town America is truly depressing
Posted on 10/20/25 at 12:13 pm to The Third Leg
Posted on 10/20/25 at 12:13 pm to The Third Leg
i took it as true city life like living in Manhattan vs living in middle of no where small town.
0
Posted on 10/20/25 at 12:16 pm to RogerTheShrubber
quote:
When you get out of your 20s, you dont "need" nearly as many amenities.
Need and prefer are two different things. I spent my entire childhood on a dirt road just outside of a town of less than 2k people in SE GA. I created my own adventure you mentioned in another post daily. I now live in a burb north of Atlanta. Barring some major life emergency, there is no chance I would live in either downtown Atlanta or my hometown again. If I need a gallon of milk, I have three grocery stores within two miles of my house and if a particular day is a sh*t show, I can pop open an app and have dinner waiting on my doorstep in 20 minutes. I dont deal with the major traffic, etc for those perks either. My kids have a ton of activities to choose from that still dont exist to this day in my hometown. While I was also still single, the increased options and anonymity was a boon as I could go out and not worry about a soul discussing me in church on Sunday.
Do I "need" all that? No. Are my kids lazier than I was? Highly possible, but I also didnt have the options that they did. Do I prefer having those options and spending the higher salary I get due to location on a higher cost of living to get them? Yes sir I do. To each their own, but I consider the benefits of convenience and amenities far less tethering than not having them.
Posted on 10/20/25 at 12:16 pm to RogerTheShrubber
quote:
Because you have zero imagination and probably grew up around computers.
All we needed was a playmate or three and the world was ours.
Building forts in the woods with what we could scavenge, hide and seek in the evening. During summer vacation I would be out on my bike before anyone got up and make it back for dinner, often with my mother threatening to hose me down before letting in the house.
Caveat, I grew up on military bases where you knew you were safe and parents didn't have to worry and families lived in massive housing areas where every house had kids. But I learned a lot from them, learned how to melt lead and make fishing lures and things like that.
Posted on 10/20/25 at 12:17 pm to GreatLakesTiger24
quote:
it would have been a 90 minute drive each way for me to play aau basketball. Is that the most important thing in the world? No, but it’s just one of a million examples We had a 6 week rec league in elementary school, then school and high ball starting in 7th. That’s it
I doubt either of our kids ever even play anything in college because I don’t intend on paying for them to play d3 and I want them at good schools with large enrollments where they can make the best connections.
That said, playing sports early, and against people that will kick your arse if you’re not on your toes, builds competitive spirit, which is needed in a cut throat system like we have in the US
Posted on 10/20/25 at 12:20 pm to travelgamer
quote:
Building forts in the woods with what we could scavenge, hide and seek in the evening. During summer vacation I would be out on my bike before anyone got up and make it back for dinner, often with my mother threatening to hose me down before letting in the house.
We had our own little society. Up at light, home by dark and parents most likely never knew where were at times.
It helped we had ballparks within bike riding distance. They got most of my time.
Posted on 10/20/25 at 12:21 pm to ClemsonKitten
Speak for yourself. I love my small town.
Posted on 10/20/25 at 12:24 pm to Old Sarge
quote:
And yet most of the people in the cities choose to vacation in and dream of living in the small towns when they retire to go frick up the traffic, housing, and politics of that small town
Posted on 10/20/25 at 12:25 pm to wadewilson
Yep
Posted on 10/20/25 at 12:25 pm to GreatLakesTiger24
quote:
And I’m not anti small town at all, but there are some legit downsides that I think a lot of people on here tend to overlook
I agree.
Posted on 10/20/25 at 12:28 pm to Hooligan33
quote:
but I consider the benefits of convenience and amenities far less tethering than not having them.
Something missed in Rush's song Subdivisions..
Its a circle of life... Kids long for the bright lights, tired adults long for the peace and quiet.
Well, some will sell their dreams for small desires
Or lose the race to rats
Get caught in ticking traps
And start to dream of somewhere
To relax their restless flight
Somewhere out of a memory
Of lighted streets on quiet nights
Posted on 10/20/25 at 2:23 pm to GreatLakesTiger24
We are talking apples and oranges. The metropolitan area for Ocean Spings includes 5 counties.
The statistical area consists of the Gulfport–Biloxi Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Pascagoula Metropolitan Statistical Area. The 2010 census placed the CSA population at 411,066, and as of 2019, is estimated to be 442,165.[1] The area was significantly impacted by Hurricane Katrina on August 29, 2005, although population growth has steadily rebounded in recent years.[2]
Counties
Hancock
Harrison
George
Jackson
Stone
A 800 person town should not even be considered a town, it's a community (and probably not be incorporated). In my book, a town with a population of 18,000 people is a small town.
The statistical area consists of the Gulfport–Biloxi Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Pascagoula Metropolitan Statistical Area. The 2010 census placed the CSA population at 411,066, and as of 2019, is estimated to be 442,165.[1] The area was significantly impacted by Hurricane Katrina on August 29, 2005, although population growth has steadily rebounded in recent years.[2]
Counties
Hancock
Harrison
George
Jackson
Stone
A 800 person town should not even be considered a town, it's a community (and probably not be incorporated). In my book, a town with a population of 18,000 people is a small town.
Posted on 10/20/25 at 2:42 pm to RedlandsTiger
A town of 18k in the middle of nowhere might be a small town. A town or 18k surrounded by towns with a total population of 400k is not a small town
Posted on 10/20/25 at 2:47 pm to GreatLakesTiger24
quote:
A town or 18k surrounded by towns with a total population of 400k is not a small town
Pretty much. Most of the Mississippi coastal communities South of i10 are not small towns.
Go north of i10 and get closer to Stone/George and Pearl River county then yeah, line gets alittle bit blurrier.
This post was edited on 10/20/25 at 2:48 pm
Posted on 10/20/25 at 3:19 pm to gaetti15
To me, a city like Tupelo is more of a small town than anything on the coast
It’s a much higher population on its own but it’s not a part of something bigger
It’s a much higher population on its own but it’s not a part of something bigger
Posted on 10/20/25 at 6:50 pm to ClemsonKitten
Posted on 10/20/25 at 8:06 pm to The Third Leg
bullshite. Because my kids all did. ALL DID. Along with dance, karate, piano with access to a lot of other things that they could do if they wanted. Your opinion is myopic and makes you sound like a douche . Enjoy the city. I enjoy visiting my kids in whatever city they live in . My son on the east coast and his wife CHOSE to move to a small town even though it means he commutes 25 miles to work 3 days out of the week . You need to get out more.
Posted on 10/20/25 at 9:10 pm to tigerbaiter
quote:
bullshite. Because my kids all did. ALL DID. Along with dance, karate, piano with access to a lot of other things that they could do if they wanted. Your opinion is myopic and makes you sound like a douche . Enjoy the city. I enjoy visiting my kids in whatever city they live in . My son on the east coast and his wife CHOSE to move to a small town even though it means he commutes 25 miles to work 3 days out of the week . You need to get out more.
I’d be interested to learn about when all your kids did that? 30-40 years back? Things have changed. And if they’re 25 miles from a major city, they’re not in a small town, they’re in a suburb.
Much has bene written and studied about the large scale offshoring of the eighties and nineties and the decay that has resulted in small towns all over. These aren’t my opinions, they’re facts.
My hometown is a prime example.
Population is down 20% over 25 years. Median age now 57. School has all but collapsed: they consolidated with neighboring school year after I left and it increased enrollment 30%. Since then, they’ve lost all that growth and now sit 20% lower than before the merger. That story has been repeated all over the country as everyone moved to cities.
This post was edited on 10/20/25 at 9:50 pm
Posted on 10/20/25 at 10:36 pm to Old Sarge
quote:
And yet most of the people in the cities choose to vacation in and dream of living in the small towns when they retire
If you ponder how actors and actresses made their millions, it is truly ironic. Most big Hollywood movies portray some multimillion dollar actor or actress playing the role of a small town or even big city dweller who goes on about their lives in the plot for a movie. They’ve made their bank on the backs of what average people do every damn day.
Posted on 10/21/25 at 8:44 am to Taurus 357
quote:huh
If you ponder how actors and actresses made their millions, it is truly ironic. Most big Hollywood movies portray some multimillion dollar actor or actress playing the role of a small town or even big city dweller who goes on about their lives in the plot for a movie. They’ve made their bank on the backs of what average people do every damn day.
Posted on 11/21/25 at 9:24 am to The Third Leg
Rolling back around to this … my kids range from 28 to 34 years old and though none of them chose to move back here after college they STILL refer to this little town as home. Sorry for the name calling in my original reply, but I felt like you were being overly judgmental about the choice some folks make to make their home and raise their kids in the town they grew up in. My wife and I could have lived very good lives and been payed very well anywhere in the country after we married. We thought long and hard about leaving the state. But we made the decision to raise our children in the place we grew up in and have never regretted it. They missed out on nothing they wanted to try. We made sure of that. But they also grew up with and among friends and family. They hunted with cousins and uncles, did high school sports with friends and family, made amazing memories that they wouldn’t have had otherwise . The wife and I could Still live and work or retire anywhere we wanted to. We CHOOSE to base ourselves here.
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