Why does New Year at hometown feel like prison?
Cliff-like environment change
causes forcedness, rupture, loss of control
Sudden environment shift produces unfreedom
From solo life in a mega-city
to a remote backward village four-generation traditional family
lose continuity of space-time
Can't focus, want to flee, return to modern life's track
Field changes:
1. Rural self-built house. Bad soundproofing no privacy, anti-human lighting/wiring, low water pressure and peak cutoffs
2. Transport. Hard to travel—HSR station 100km from the village
Time changes:
1. China's most important festival. Packed New Year, prices soar, traffic jams, rail tickets scarce, free highways etc.
2. Time itself unchanged—people assign special meaning.
Crowd changes:
1. Different education, ages, genders together—value clashes extreme; even same-age peers with different education/life/work can't agree in this fast era, let alone elders
2. Urban civil consciousness vs rural mutual disturbance stark. Firecrackers all night, noisy midnight passersby by windows, DJ reverb volume wishing the whole village hears...
Culture changes:
From individual whims and self-experience first, to:
obey traditional customs, routines, collective surface harmony far more important than the individual
Final unfreedom:
Can't decide what/when to eat
lose right to refuse—not allowed / bad to do that / can't
lose modern constraints—can't control others invading your life
Custom over logic, form over purpose
Can't communicate with modern workplace "logic / case by case"
Lose all entertainment except phone scrolling: ball, sports, walks, movies, delivery
Lose planning of itinerary. Hard tickets, bad transport, cultural rules force you fixed places at fixed times,
ironically with extreme uncontrollables: scarce HSR tickets, ticket-grabbing that decides travel time for you.
Only human compromise—waste tons of time energy money!
Scariest: despite many grievances, endure silently!
Bad transport and cultural constraints—you can't easily leave mid-way; not celebrating with everyone is unfilial! Escape cost huge, including psychological!
I work in a fast-changing AI industry and clearly feel loss of self—mainly rupture from environment shift is severe.
In a mega-city high-tech industry, solutions in my head get overturned and replayed many times within 24 hours; knowledge and cognition iterate by day or even hour.
Then New Year hometown is like falling from Everest into the East African Rift, forced to coexist with environments, crowds, thoughts unimproved for decades. Isn't that torture?
The broader the knowledge, the better the international general education, the smarter and clearer—the stronger this rupture!
So why sometimes I envy those with low degrees, average jobs, narrow knowledge, peacefully living small days!
Simple people have simple luck—best interpretation in this context!
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Why does New Year at hometown feel like prison?
From X · @therealfreddyx
Thoughts
mew～
Why does New Year at hometown feel like prison?
Cliff-like environment change
causes forcedness, rupture, loss of control
Sudden environment shift produces unfreedom
From solo life in a mega-city
to a remote backward village four-generation traditional family
lose continuity of space-time
Can't focus, want to flee, return to modern life's track
Field changes:
1. Rural self-built house. Bad soundproofing no privacy, anti-human lighting/wiring, low water pressure and peak cutoffs
2. Transport. Hard to travel—HSR station 100km from the village
Time changes:
1. China's most important festival. Packed New Year, prices soar, traffic jams, rail tickets scarce, free highways etc.
2. Time itself unchanged—people assign special meaning.
Crowd changes:
1. Different education, ages, genders together—value clashes extreme; even same-age peers with different education/life/work can't agree in this fast era, let alone elders
2. Urban civil consciousness vs rural mutual disturbance stark. Firecrackers all night, noisy midnight passersby by windows, DJ reverb volume wishing the whole village hears...
Culture changes:
From individual whims and self-experience first, to:
obey traditional customs, routines, collective surface harmony far more important than the individual
Final unfreedom:
Can't decide what/when to eat
lose right to refuse—not allowed / bad to do that / can't
lose modern constraints—can't control others invading your life
Custom over logic, form over purpose
Can't communicate with modern workplace "logic / case by case"
Lose all entertainment except phone scrolling: ball, sports, walks, movies, delivery
Lose planning of itinerary. Hard tickets, bad transport, cultural rules force you fixed places at fixed times,
ironically with extreme uncontrollables: scarce HSR tickets, ticket-grabbing that decides travel time for you.
Only human compromise—waste tons of time energy money!
Scariest: despite many grievances, endure silently!
Bad transport and cultural constraints—you can't easily leave mid-way; not celebrating with everyone is unfilial! Escape cost huge, including psychological!
I work in a fast-changing AI industry and clearly feel loss of self—mainly rupture from environment shift is severe.
In a mega-city high-tech industry, solutions in my head get overturned and replayed many times within 24 hours; knowledge and cognition iterate by day or even hour.
Then New Year hometown is like falling from Everest into the East African Rift, forced to coexist with environments, crowds, thoughts unimproved for decades. Isn't that torture?
The broader the knowledge, the better the international general education, the smarter and clearer—the stronger this rupture!
So why sometimes I envy those with low degrees, average jobs, narrow knowledge, peacefully living small days!
Simple people have simple luck—best interpretation in this context!
Cliff-like environment change
causes forcedness, rupture, loss of control
Sudden environment shift produces unfreedom
From solo life in a mega-city
to a remote backward village four-generation traditional family
lose continuity of space-time
Can't focus, want to flee, return to modern life's track
Field changes:
1. Rural self-built house. Bad soundproofing no privacy, anti-human lighting/wiring, low water pressure and peak cutoffs
2. Transport. Hard to travel—HSR station 100km from the village
Time changes:
1. China's most important festival. Packed New Year, prices soar, traffic jams, rail tickets scarce, free highways etc.
2. Time itself unchanged—people assign special meaning.
Crowd changes:
1. Different education, ages, genders together—value clashes extreme; even same-age peers with different education/life/work can't agree in this fast era, let alone elders
2. Urban civil consciousness vs rural mutual disturbance stark. Firecrackers all night, noisy midnight passersby by windows, DJ reverb volume wishing the whole village hears...
Culture changes:
From individual whims and self-experience first, to:
obey traditional customs, routines, collective surface harmony far more important than the individual
Final unfreedom:
Can't decide what/when to eat
lose right to refuse—not allowed / bad to do that / can't
lose modern constraints—can't control others invading your life
Custom over logic, form over purpose
Can't communicate with modern workplace "logic / case by case"
Lose all entertainment except phone scrolling: ball, sports, walks, movies, delivery
Lose planning of itinerary. Hard tickets, bad transport, cultural rules force you fixed places at fixed times,
ironically with extreme uncontrollables: scarce HSR tickets, ticket-grabbing that decides travel time for you.
Only human compromise—waste tons of time energy money!
Scariest: despite many grievances, endure silently!
Bad transport and cultural constraints—you can't easily leave mid-way; not celebrating with everyone is unfilial! Escape cost huge, including psychological!
I work in a fast-changing AI industry and clearly feel loss of self—mainly rupture from environment shift is severe.
In a mega-city high-tech industry, solutions in my head get overturned and replayed many times within 24 hours; knowledge and cognition iterate by day or even hour.
Then New Year hometown is like falling from Everest into the East African Rift, forced to coexist with environments, crowds, thoughts unimproved for decades. Isn't that torture?
The broader the knowledge, the better the international general education, the smarter and clearer—the stronger this rupture!
So why sometimes I envy those with low degrees, average jobs, narrow knowledge, peacefully living small days!
Simple people have simple luck—best interpretation in this context!