Why do people in America rarely acknowledge each other on the streets or anywhere in public?

Answer 1

Depends where you live. In a small town you'd get hello's. In a big city you won't. People in big cities have to be on their guard. Also, many people move around a long now a days. People are often new to an area and just don't know as many people as you would think.

Don't think that big city people are cold, they are often just protecting them selves. Try asking some of them for directions sometime - even if you don't need them. They'll help you. You'd be surprized.

Answer 2

This is a fairly new phenomena, actually. When I was a child, people in my neighbourhood knew each other and spoke to each other. If we went downtown, we still acknowledged other people with a nod or a smile, if the streets weren't too crowded; i mean you can't go about in a crowd acknowledging everyone you meet, right? Then, about thirty years ago, things really began to change here. Immigration came into full swing as a means of growing the population, as opposed to supporting families and having children born here, our governments and corporations decided it was a better route to move people around the planet .
suddenly, our communities were very different places. many of the people living there were no longer from there, there was a loss of sense of community and this persists to this day. we don't do anything as a community anymore; just disparate little groups following our own "cultures" and meeting our own needs with little regard to our neighbours. I don't know my neigbours well at all. When I moved in, they never came to me to welcome me to the neighbourhood or anything, they don't share themselves in any way and in fact look at me with distrust because I am "white" "canadian" and they aren't .. it is amazing how many people new to canada distrust "canadians" and assume we're all bigots and filled with hate. It amazes me because it was people like me voting for reform and tolerance that led to these people coming here rather than the previous system of immigration: from the commonwealth or western europe only

Answer 3

Some people are caught up in their busy lives. I have mild social anxiety so I don't care much to make eye contact, or make any social interactions actually... Then some people are stuck up and judgemental. It's just the sociology of the country. You can't judge everyone that way though. That is a generalization and it isn't completely factual. I will agree that most people don't acknowledge one another. And I personally like it like that...

Answer 4

This is a recent BAD behavior that has been spread by Entertainment/Advertisement getting so many people hooked on Rap. (They tried to suck in the kids in the turn between 80's and 90's because then they could find ways to get profit,... when I was in high school they were profiting off rich brats that spent thousands on a single outfit to prove they were poor Ghetto kids,.. popularity has been spreading because of Entertainment and Advertisement).

The negative behaviors include not makeing eye contact or someone will jump at you (they will jump and run away like a little girl if you stand there, reach your index finger out, touch them, and say something like a small child like " Poke" or " Your a finger away") & some other stuff like the " If I ignore it I won't be involved" trend".

Answer 5

Well, there's a lot of us. So those of us in large cities generally don't know most of the people we see on the streets. Also, acknoledging people on the streets often leads them to ask you if you can spare a couple dollars.
If you travel to a smaller American town, you will see plenty of people acknowledging each other in public.

Answer 6

That depends on what part of the country your at. More of your larger cities for example cater to the hustle and bustle of daily life and it's an overall faster pace. Smaller towns however I have found people to be generally more friendlier. Not to offend, but growing up in the South overall I think the people are friendlier there. I recently moved up north and although the people are friendly it"s not quite the same.

Answer 7

It depends on where you live. I was raised in the DC area and noone ever makes contact with each other, and when they do it's a half smile, not even a hi. When I moved down to NC, I can strike up a conversation with someone in a store and it's not wierd. It's just regional culture.

Answer 8

In the part of the States where I live, it's not uncommon for people to say "hi" to strangers on the street. Visitors to our area often comment on how surprised they are and how friendly the place is. (It's a relatively big city, by the way. You'll have heard of it.)

Answer 9

It's not just America. They're like that in Toronto, London, Bangkok (Of the places I've been). So I have to surmise that it's something in common to all large cities .

Answer 10

I stopped doing it after I was ignored one too many times. Yelling "Hello" a second time started to make me feel like a psycho.