If a study came out and said that people who have close neighbors are less inclined to play music loudly at 3 in the morning now than they were in 1950, we would not think this a regression but a sign of progress. https://twitter.com/Yascha_Mounk/status/1289336623105155072

This study says that people these days are more likely to think twice before speaking plainly what is on their minds, and it shows the effect is stronger among the university educated and the urban dwellers.

Now, the thing that university life has in common with city life is: you get a greater density of people living and working in very close proximity to each other, coming from more places and more points of views.

Whereas the more rural you get, the less dense the population, and thus the fewer perspectives that will be encountered.

Three random people from a very small town are more likely to share a cultural assumption than three random people from a large city.

And in a dense population center, there are more likely to be more random (relative to you) people around you than in a less dense one. Your neighbors are going to be both more numerous and more diverse. The people you share the sidewalks and hallways with.

That old adage about "your right to swing your fist ends where my nose begins"? Means that people who live in wide open spaces have more right to swing their fists.

"But we're talking about words, not fists."

Sure. And did no one ever tell you it was important to not blurt out every stray thought you have, lest you say something you regret and hurt someone's feelings?

I mean, I don't always say the first thing on my mind.. not because I don't feel *allowed* but because I want to be a good neighbor.

I DO fear the consequences of saying the wrong sort of thing. E.g., I might hurt or alienate someone!

Sometimes I worry that in saying something I might represent myself poorly. Sometimes I consider that in saying something I do believe in but which is contentious, I'll waste time in a debate or fight that doesn't need to happen right now.

These are all very normal things! You can call the impulse "self-censorship" but learning to do it is considered a key social skill, not a sign of repression.

So what has changed since the 1950s? Maybe cities got more diverse. Certainly campuses have, a bit.

Very possibly there is more awareness of one's neighbors. We are more aware we have close neighbors who maybe need to sleep during the day as well, to return to the metaphor.

Maybe people who used to have others scrambling to get their noses out of the way for them are starting to instead pay attention to where they put their fists.

I don't know how you can look at these results on their face and say things have gotten worse than the 1950s.

Worse, for whom?