Living in Suburbia
I’ve lived in a few different places during my short 17 years on Earth. From the middle of LA, to the nature reserves of Sydney, Australia, to Newbury Park. Because of this, I see the good and the bad about living pretty much anywhere. As much as I love our little slice of suburban heaven here in Newbury Park, I would argue that there are some downsides to living the suburban life. So here are both my dilemmas and favorite things about our little NP:
The Pros
1. Hello Mother Nature
Something that I definitely appreciate out here in Newbury Park is the fact that we are so close to nature. We’ve all seen enough Instagram pictures of people on the top of Mt. Boney and sunsets to last us a lifetime. Whether you are posting these photos or on Twitter complaining that, “If I see another sunset picture I’m going to die,” you can’t deny that the place we live in is beautiful.
2. Safety first!
We also get the perk of living in the 4th safest city in the United States. New families who want to raise their kids in a safe environment flock to our quiet suburb. Our school doesn’t have electric fences and we don’t have to walk through metal detectors like students have to in some inner-city schools. Personally, I like that we don’t have to be strip-searched for wearing a belt or a necklace that may set a metal detector off.
3. The Sound of Silence
If you are one of those people who needs sound to
fall asleep, you’d better download an app because you won’t be hearing any city noises.The sounds of suburbia don’t have their own place on your iPhone’s noises app because there really aren’t any. We enjoy less traffic during the day and almost complete silence at night. You rarely hear sirens, helicopters, or car horns, but you may hear the occasional coyote or kids playing in the street. Silence is golden folks.
4. Friendly faces
In suburbia, everyone knows everyone, which is both a pro and con in my opinion. You go to elementary, middle, and high school with the same kids. I know for a fact that some people would rather see new faces on the first day of school, but this can be a good thing because you don’t have the stress of making new friends when moving up to middle or high school. This isn’t to say that it’s impossible to make new friends or meet new people, but it’s much less likely here. Fresh starts are few and far between in suburbia though feeling the comfort of knowing your friends will be there on the first day of school is something you can count on.
The Cons
1. What to do, what to do …
I know that we’ve all experienced the Friday and Saturday night problem of sitting around with our friends trying to decide what to do. However, the problem is usually not deciding between multiple options, but actually thinking of something in the first place. Being a high school student in suburbia is great during the day when we’re at school or sports practices, because we have great facilities compared to many inner-city schools. The issue is that as soon as we’re out of school and have time to do what we please, we have significantly fewer options than we would have if we were closer to a city.
2. Living in a bubble
I’m not saying that there is absolutely no diversity out here in suburbia, but we really don’t have an abundance of it around here. Diversity gives people perspective by allowing them to meet unfamiliar individuals. We’re all pretty similar here in Newbury Park, so many of us aren’t exposed to diversity until we leave the house.
3. In a land far, far away….
In my personal opinion, the biggest con that results from living in suburbia is that we are pretty far from the city and all it has to offer. Concerts, sports, and other major events are usually located in Los Angeles. For us suburbanites, that means anywhere from 45 minutes to three hours stuck in traffic. Although we are more fortunate than other suburban dwellers in terms of our distance from exciting events, it can be a real struggle to get into LA.
4. Poverty, crime, and graffiti. What’s that?
We also aren’t exposed to a lot of global problems. We may see the occasional homeless man outside our local CVS, but we don’t see the poverty that is so prevalent in places as close to us as downtown LA. I’m not advocating that we all move downtown, but I do think that suburbia breeds sheltered kids. Those of us who leave will experience culture shock when we see how many people in the world are less fortunate than us.
