FROM: The death of hanging out
If you go to the gym, you have probably noticed that hardly anyone ever talks to anyone there. It is very weird to talk to strangers at the gym.
In the gym I’ve gone to here in small town America, there is a clique in there that chats a lot, but most people don’t. This is strange to me, because those of us who go are so unusual here. We’re all in decent shape! That is very counter-cultural in the Midwest! You’d think we’d bond over being such local freaks! But we don’t.
We keep to ourselves.
Even in group exercise is alienated. You might do the same class every weeks for months, but will you ever learn the names of the people you do the class with? In my experience, probably not. I’ve logged an unbelievable number of hours in group exercise, but I have seldom made any friends there.
You might just say: Well, you’re a weird guy Brady. True. But I also didn’t see it happening between others. People didn’t talk to each other much. They just came in, did the thing, and left.