Is it just my neighborhood that shuts it's curtains 24/7 year-round?

[Ripley]

I didn't notice this until a few years ago. But now it is undeniable. Almost every home in my development (single family homes where the oldest home is maybe 12 years old in this subdivision) keeps their windows covered all of the time, even on weekends. I can't understand it here in the sunbelt. I mean, it is understandable to shut them in the summer for sun-blocking, but in the winter I only shut my curtains at night or when I'm out of town. I used to think it was just the creepy neighbors who did something weird in there (which I still think they did...cause they disappeared and new people are in the house now without a forsale sign going up, but that's another story). But now it is everyone!

I sense fear. It wasn't like this when we decided to move here. I remember homes having open windows. There is a very low crime rate in my neighborhood and city...I don't even have an alarm system on my house. (We are on the outskirts of a small city.)

I suppose this could be a reflection of our society which is not very "communal" anymore. But I can't help but think people are seriously troubled that they would live their lives in a home where no sunlight comes in and they have no desire to look outside at nature, or hell, just their own yard for that matter. And there are people in these homes during the day.

How can anyone live in such fear? Or such disconnect with the outdoor world?

What is wrong with these people?

[Kathy in Cambridge]

1. Patriot Act. Ashcroft. Or Depression about the Recession.

Or Combination of all othe above.

[Ripley]

2. But this is a very non-liberal area.

I don't think it is that.

It is a much deeper psychosis if I might pretend to be a psychologist here...(any DU psychologists welcome to help me out here)...what in the world are they afraid of?

Some of these homes certainly ain't affected by the recession..in fact a house down the street just added a huge "wing" onto their home. It's a two story thing I believe will be used as their son's "apartment" since he just graduated from HS.

[grasswire]

4. coccooning?

I keep my curtains shut, but that's because they actually let in a huge amount of light and because another apartment is about 30 feet away from my big picture window, with a busy footpath in between. I really don't want my neighbors peering in.

[Ripley]

8. This is a subdivision with homes sitting far apart.

Like 1/4 - 1/3 acre lots. Not so close as you are where you obviously need privacy for safety.

[lastknowngood]

3. About 5 years ago some of the more well to do people started

removing all of their curtans and blinds. It's weird you can look into the livingroom and see them most any time. I'm begning to think that this world is making less and less sense all the time.

[Ripley]

5. Huh?

Where is that happening?

[Lars39]

7. I've seen that....it is the wierdest thing.

They usually have the whole front of their house lit up, too.

[Ripley]

9. Yeah, yeah, yeah!!!!

That's it. They have these prison yard lights blaring into my god damned back porch and all of their blinds closed...WTF?

This is NOT a high-crime area...

Is it just irrational fears? Gee, I might have some of those, but not enough to deny myself opening my curtains.

[Lars39]

11. I've wondered if it isn't the *advice* the home security people

are dishing out. Prison yard lights describe it pretty well, too.

[Ripley]

13. Wow, thanks. That's a good answer.

I never thought about that...Brinks security telling folks to lock it down.

But it is a crazy way to live I think. Why would you want to live in a virtual prison...is that a good thing when Americans can't even identify a bird in their yard because they're afraid to open their shades when the sun comes out?

This country is fricked.

[mn9driver]

6. If your 'burb is like most recent ones, the focus of the houses

is to the back. The fronts are just driveways and garage doors. I like city livin' better, myself. We know just about everybody within a block or two, and it's fairly common for a neighbor to just stop by for a chat as they walk by.

[zbdent]

10. I put up curtains to keep my neighbors from puking

I'm okay with my body, albeit a tad overweight. I've been to one nudist camp, Orient Bay, and a couple of indoor naturist gatherings since 1990. Not exactly a constant anywhere.

5 foot 4, 190 lbs - male.

Also, my wife, although not being a prude, does not appreciate being on display for the neighborhood.

I just feel that I shouldn't force the issue on my neighbors. A courtesy, if you will.

[Ripley]

12. Uh, I was not suggesting folks NOT use curtains.

Especially for privacy. Just curious why they have them closed ALL of the time?

[frankly_fedup2]

14. My pain doctor and I were just discussing the same issue.

I have chronic tendinitis, carpal tunnel, and fibromyalgia. Due to the fibromyalgia, the orthopedists will not do surgery on my elbows or hands.

Anyway, she asked me if I opened my blinds during the day because lack of light in the winter months can make one depressed and feel worse.

I never open my blinds (when my mother comes over she opens them all up and I'm 44). Anyway, I told her I do not open my because I do not want people, neighbors, salesmen, etc., to know that I am home because 99% of the time I'm in bed due to pain and/or could not stand to have to entertain someone.

She told me (this is the truth) to make a sign and put on my door stating that I am not feeling well today so I would appreciate their understanding that having company right now would be hard for me. I told my husband and he thought it was a joke.

I live in the south, small town, everybody knows everybody, and your kin just walk in your house without knocking. Yet she thinks this sign will miraculously stop them.

So I don't know about "fear" . . . I just want to be left alone the majority of the time.

[kodi]

15. maybe you scare the hell out of them?

just a thought, since you said it happened only since you moved there.

[Ripley]

16. LOL

No. I said it happened in the last few years, I've been here nearly 9.

Sometimes I wish I could knock the sense into them, since they are mostly Bushites.

[Ripley]

17. Okay I confess.

I am the reason why, because I live here..bbbuuhhhwwwaaaaaaahhhhh.

[Ripley]

19. Maybe you're right.

Does that scare you?


I forgot to add that I do this at night....

[mike_c]

18. ours are pretty much open 24/7...

...and this is a small town where the lots are really small. All my neighbors are close.

[KoKo]

20. Yes, Ripley, I've seen what you are talking about. I live in a community

in the South with a mixture of "tear downs" to build "McMansions" and other houses which are pretty impressive from the 70's -80's. The McMansions seem to be the most prone to closed "plantation shutters" or "blinds" but some areas built in my huge suburban area built in the "newer section" in the 90's also have closed blinds. The odd thing is that I never see anyone coming and going from these houses no matter what time of day I ride by and if there are children, I don't see them either.

However, in this same huge suburban golf type community there are others who have open windows and lights ablaze inside showing off their decorator furnishings for all to see. I think those are the folks who invite the people who come in and to "tear downs" and build the "McMansions" so that they can keep their blinds shut so people don't see them counting their coins made off the "hedge funds and trader selling they are doing in the Bush Stock Market. :D

My neighborhood has lots of Doctors, Dentists, Lawyers and for all I know Columbian Drug Dealers or Gun Merchants. We are the odd "normal folks" in our neighborhood. :shrug:

It's the New South I think....And I think you've picked up on what I've noticed that YES something odd is going on out there. I've lived in many neighborhoods in the Northeast all over and only the last ten or so years in the South. It's the last three years I've noticed the "closed blinds" phenomenon. But, when I moved here the "Open Blinds show off how well you are living" was the most prevalent.

I also noticed much less in holiday displays in my neighborhood the last three years. Is it Bush, or are new young families pulling away from displays of holiday cheer?

Who knows....but I wonder, as do you, what the hell are they doing in their with their blinds closed all day and night?

[Ripley]

24. Thank you!

KoKo, I am so glad to hear someone else has noticed this. I seriously think it has something to do with Bush, but not fear since 9/11...but just mean, greedy, non-social isolationist people who immulate him. Maybe it is just a southern thing, don't know. But they are like cultists. They come out on Sunday morning all dressed up drive to the church (where they do who knows what all day), come home and disappear inside for the next 6 days.

People are definitely becoming less neighborly and less friendly in general and I'm glad to know it's not ME!!! There is a sickness in this country and frankly if I could afford it I'd move to a nicer place like BC.

[Skittles]

21. I always, always keep my windows covered

because

1) I HATE THE F***ING SUN
2) I DON'T LIKE PEEPERS

[grasswire]

22. couple more thoughts...

1. More homes now have no one at home during the day, and people don't want to advertise that.

2. Busier lives mean less time for tidy homes. Mrs. Jones is embarrassed by clutter and keeps her drapes shut.

[vajraroshana]

23. I've noticed this too,

in the past three or four years especially. Our neighborhood is about a 35 year old modest brick ranch subdivision in the middle of town. There used to be a feeling of community, but it's kind of like everyone has become shut-off from each other. Of course the neighborhood has also changed dramatically. Starting about five years ago, the older people (probably the original owners) began selling in droves. It seems that all the new people have at least two SUVs in the driveway with frequently one or more cars that are parked on the street. Almost overnight, people have discovered our "modest" old neighborhood is a bargain with well-built but small homes and there's no commute time. I'm not sure what the common denominator is, but guess that "cocooning" is the major factor.

But our yards are 1/2 acre; kind of large by today's standards. There is plenty of space between house and street, and there's lovely mature trees, etc.

Personally, every morning the first thing I do is open the blinds. I love watching the birds, escpecially this time of year. Little flocks of playful tufted titmouse have been visiting, and today I saw one of my favorites, an eastern towhee flitting around the shrubs.

The "security" reason also sounds like a major contributor here. I'm a landscape designer in a large-ish landscape firm. Starting about ten years ago, things began to get impossibly, drearily boring concerning what we do. No longer do we ever create "oases" of privacy by using a few strategically-placed groups of shrubs to partially block views (I've never been a fan of hedges, personally, but "partial privacy" was what I was taught to work for a long time ago and I think it's still wisdom; you get beauty, and a sense of privacy, but not the closed-in feeling and security issues from overplanting). That's _literally_ forbidden in all of the subdivisions I work in. Instead we're allowed to plant only from a tiny list of "allowed" plants. And most particularly in the front, you can never "block" views of the house. From a historical perspective these landscaping issues ("open" front yards) started in the late nineteenth century (often legislated) as a measure to _promote_ community interaction.

I could go into a rant here, but I'll stop.

[trof]

25. Welcome to a fellow Alabamian.

Glad to have you at DU.
:hi:
I count 16 of us that I know of.

[Ripley]

27. Thanks for your perspective.

Odd, another southerner who sees this...is this just regional?

The busy lives doesn't apply in my neighborhood...I would say a majority of these homes have stay-at-home Moms. Security? Gee, I think my home is safer because it looks like someone lives here. When I see homes all closed up, it looks like they're on vacation. And to top it off, they often have 5 newspapers laying in their driveway!

I guess I'm unusual because I'm an artist who uses plant material in my artwork, so I spend a lot of time outside gardening. I know some people are too busy to garden themselves and hire people to do the planting and mowing, etc. But it seems really sad to me that Americans don't even enjoy looking at nature in their own backyard. No wonder they don't give a damn about the state of the National Parks.

It is a sad reflection on the types of people Americans have or are becoming...it used to be only the uber rich got to live in mansions in gated communities where they never had time to be in their homes. Now the middle class has taken on the "wanna be" attitude that they too can be isolated. It is an unhealthy trend.

[KoKo]

28. Another observation: We have lots of walkers in my neighborhood but

they all (older, middle aged and younger) wear their headphones so they can listen to music or whatever. So they never hear birds or the sounds of anything when they walk. Also if I'm out walking (I don't use a Walkman thingy) I notice they don't even nod as you walk by them or smile because they are into whatever they are listening to.

The other group of exercisers, (the baby joggers with baby walker and dog in tow) whiz by also without as much as a nod because they are so absorbed with keeping a pace. And lastly the dedicated single joggers go off into the street if you are on the sidewalk so they don't run into you and no nods or anything because they are running to fast to notice you as more than an obstacle.

Yes.....it's definitely like people want to stay "into themselves" and avoid contact.

[trof]

29. Oddly enough, we have a lot of "see through" homes here.

Down near the gulf coast.
During my morning walks I see many houses with ornate glass front doors and sidelights, and you can see all the way through the living/great room out into the back yard.

I'd hate a house where I couldn't run around in my skivvies or less.

[newyawker99]

31. Hi barking_23!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[mainer]

26. Keep your eyes open -- something's fishy

Article in the NY Times Magazine talked about how many prostitution or sex-slave operations are in suburbs, and that neighbors will often notice weird things. (Like new people they haven't seen before, or unusual traffic or strange cars parked outside.)

You could have one of THOSE in your neighborhood.

I can't imagine why people would want to keep their curtains closed during the day unless they work at night and are trying to sleep, or they're trying to hide something.

[FlaGranny]

A lady I used to work for was shocked when

the police showed up at her next door neighbors' house. They had been making kiddy porn right in the house and in the privacy fenced back yard pool!!! She said she "felt" like something was not right, but had no idea it was that.

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