Friends, Neighbors and Facebook

By CHARLES M. BLOW
NYT

Mister Rogers would be so disappointed in me.

Aside from the people who live in my building, I know the name of only one person who lives on my block: Roger Cohen, a Times colleague.

I want to blame it on the fact that I’m absolutely awful with names and can be quite socially awkward. But that has ever been thus. Then I thought that maybe it was a city thing, but that explanation goes but so far. I’m actually beginning to believe that it’s bigger than me, bigger than my block, bigger than this city. I increasingly believe that less neighborliness is becoming intrinsic to the modern American experience — a most unfortunate development.

A report issued Wednesday by the Pew Research Center found that only 43 percent of Americans know all or most of their neighbors by name. Twenty-nine percent know only some, and 28 percent know none. (Oh, my God! When Roger dashes off to Paris this summer, I’ll become a “none.”)

(More here.)