Wenn Nachbarn zu Fremden werden: Wie das digitale Zeitalter die städtische Sozialität neu gestaltet

In Pittsburgh, in the corner café in Lawrenceville, the seat by the window is always occupied by someone scrolling alone on their phone. The barber next door says he can’t remember the last time a neighbor stopped by to say hello. This city was once famous for Mister Rogers' Neighborhood — the man who gently said on TV, "I like you just the way you are," and defined the ideal of a good neighbor. But today, people in Pittsburgh are posting on Reddit, asking how to make friends in the city, how to get to know the person who lives across the street.

The data confirms this sense of loss. A report from the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) shows that in 2012, 51% of young Americans interacted regularly with their neighbors; by 2025, that number has dropped to 25%. More broadly, in 2012, 59% of Americans chatted with their neighbors a few times a week; in 2025, only 41% do.

Our homes have become "entertainment fortresses." Daniel Cox, director of the AEI Survey Center, says we can now do everything at home—streaming, food delivery, navigation, shopping—without needing to knock on a neighbor’s door. This independence is "empowering," but also "toxic." It has changed our expectations of each other, especially of our neighbors. Cox even suggests that the decline in neighborly interaction may have intensified political polarization in the United States.

In Pittsburgh, it’s not that people don’t long for connection. Social clubs like the Pittsburgh Social Club and Pittsburgh Girls Who Walk are emerging as new "third places." On Reddit, people advise each other: start by being a good neighbor—help shovel snow after a blizzard, check in during a power outage, or organize a community barbecue. These seemingly small gestures are being rediscovered for their value.

But online friends can’t help you water your plants, move furniture, or show up in an emergency. Cox reminds us that algorithm-selected social circles cannot replace actual geographic proximity. As we expand infinitely in the digital world, our physical-space relationships are shrinking.

Perhaps learning to be a neighbor again isn’t about going back to the past, but about finding a new balance on the boundary between digital and physical. On the streets of Pittsburgh, the trees still change color in autumn, the porch lights still glow—it just takes someone to knock on that door first.