Voice on the Coast has put out a survey on Facebook – called the VOICE OUT!reach project – to connect 18 to 45 year olds on the Sunshine Coast.
The first part of the survey is for demographic information and the second is for questions such as what hobbies or organizations you belong to.
Once it’s completed, they quantify your data, and in six to eight weeks you get a new friend in the mail.
Actually, their project intentions state that the purpose is to “gain an understanding of who our community members within this demographic are and to share these findings with our community.”
I, for one, am interested to find out who else is out there and if they like watching Netflix as much as I do.
I moved to the Coast about a year ago, and in that time I haven’t met that many young people here. I have one friend I see almost every weekend and about three to five casual acquaintances I see sporadically. Don’t even get me started on the dating scene.
I went into Vancouver last weekend and invited a few of my old friends out to a bar. It was fun – they brought some of their friends, and I met more new people on one Saturday night in Vancouver than I have in a year on the Coast.
Please don’t read this and think that I’m cynical about living here; there’s a lot about the Coast that I love. But it’s crazy to realize that there is such a disparity between the city life – that’s actually quite close – and the rural life up here. Especially when you consider how many people can’t really afford to live in Vancouver.
Many Vancouverites I’ve talked to say they’ve considered living somewhere else, but it would mean giving up the accessible beaches and forests that they’ve grown accustomed to – even if it means spending over half of their income on rent for a single bedroom basement suite.
If beaches and forests are what you’re after, then have I got a place for you.
I’ve heard a handful of reasons thrown around the Coast about why there’s a lack of young people: there aren’t any jobs, the ferries are too expensive, there aren’t any jobs …
Actually, I think there’s another reason, and it’s not really about young people specifically. The Coast is spread out and it’s led to a car culture. Even in the towns, here it’s hard to walk from one store to the next, so people drive. If you want to go out on the weekend, you either have to drive or take a cab ride that will cost half your income.
The problem isn’t really that there aren’t any young people – more would help – but the opportunities for the people living here to meet other people living here are stunted to begin with.
Once you know a couple people you just go to their houses, further undermining your chances of expanding your social network.
I’m not sure how Voice on the Coast intends on connecting young people – you can find them on Facebook and take the survey – but the problem isn’t just young people. How many seniors out there are lonely too?
