Seattle Freeze
{{Short description|Social phenomenon in Seattle, Washington}}
{{Use American English|date = April 2019}}
The Seattle Freeze is, according to widely held belief, a difficulty with making new friends in the American city of Seattle, Washington, particularly for transplants from other areas. [https://www.seattletimes.com/pacific-nw-magazine/our-social-dis-ease-beyond-the-smiles-the-seattle-freeze-is-on/ A 2005 article] in The Seattle Times written by Julia Sommerfeld appears to be the first known use of the term, although the phenomenon was documented during rapid population increases in the early 1920s, World War II, and the 1980s. The phenomenon is sometimes found or associated with Portland, Oregon; Vancouver, Canada; or other cities in the Pacific Northwest as well.
Key traits
Newcomers to the area have described Seattleites as socioculturally apathetic, standoffish, cold, distant, and distrustful.{{cite news |last=Lacitis |first=Erik |date=January 17, 2009 |title=Friendless in Seattle: A popular website is used for relief from our chilly social scene |newspaper=The Seattle Times |url=http://www.seattletimes.com/life/lifestyle/friendless-in-seattle-a-popular-web-site-is-used-for-relief-from-our-chilly-social-scene/ |access-date=December 11, 2016}} People from Seattle tend to mainly interact with their particular clique in social settings such as bars and parties.{{cite book |last=Madison |first=Amber |title=Are All Guys Assholes? |publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-1-101-54755-7|date=December 2013}} One author said of the aversion to strangers that "people are very polite but not particularly friendly",{{cite book |last=Maria |first=Christensen |title=Newcomer's handbook for moving to and living in Seattle |publisher=First Books |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-912301-73-0 |edition=3 |location=Portland, Oregon |page=6}} while some residents dispute any existence of the Seattle Freeze altogether.{{cite news |last=Thomas |first=Linda |date=March 28, 2011 |title=The Seattle Freeze |publisher=KIRO |url=http://mynorthwest.com/?nid=646&sid=305849 |access-date=June 25, 2012}}{{cite news |last=Judd |first=Ron |date=January 9, 2015 |title=If you weren't born in Seattle or the Northwest, you'll never be one of us |publisher=The Seattle Times|work=Pacific NW Magazine |url=http://www.seattletimes.com/pacific-nw-magazine/if-you-werenrsquot-born-in-seattle-or-the-northwest-yoursquoll-never-be-one-of-us/ |access-date=December 13, 2016}}
History
Speculation of the origin is the reserved personalities of the city's early Nordic and Asian immigrants,{{cite web |last=Wing |first=Jennifer |title=Why is the 'Seattle Freeze' so hard to melt? |url=https://www.knkx.org/other-news/2012-01-06/why-is-the-seattle-freeze-so-hard-to-melt |date=January 6, 2012|access-date=June 20, 2012 |publisher=KNKX}}{{cite news |last=Sommerfeld |first=Julia |date=February 13, 2005 |title=Our Social Dis-ease: Beyond the smiles, the Seattle Freeze is on |newspaper=The Seattle Times |department=Pacific NW Magazine |url=http://www.seattletimes.com/pacific-nw-magazine/our-social-dis-ease-beyond-the-smiles-the-seattle-freeze-is-on/ |url-status=live |access-date=February 6, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160105082656/http://www.seattletimes.com/pacific-nw-magazine/our-social-dis-ease-beyond-the-smiles-the-seattle-freeze-is-on/ |archive-date=January 5, 2016}} the emotional effects of the climate (such as Seasonal Affective Disorder), or the region's history of independent-minded pioneers.{{cite news |last=Rolph |first=Amy |date=January 6, 2012 |title=The Seattle Freeze: Real or all in your head? |newspaper=Seattle Post-Intelligencer |url=http://blog.seattlepi.com/thebigblog/2012/01/06/the-seattle-freeze-real-or-all-in-your-head/ |access-date=June 20, 2012}}{{cite news |last=Balk |first=Gene |date=December 4, 2012 |title=Seattle Freeze: Can we blame it on the Norwegians? |newspaper=The Seattle Times |url=http://blogs.seattletimes.com/fyi-guy/2012/12/04/seattle-freeze-can-we-blame-it-on-the-norwegians/ |access-date=December 4, 2012}}
The Seattle Times reported in April 1920: “Seattle people have been accused of being too cold and distant.”{{Cite web |last=Clarridge |first=Christine |date=April 12, 2022 |title=What it takes to be considered a true Seattleite and PNW local |url=https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/northwest/what-it-takes-to-be-considered-a-true-seattleite-and-pnw-local/ |access-date=April 13, 2022 |website=The Seattle Times |language=en-US}} The Seattle Daily Times described similar characteristics as early as the 1940s.{{cite web |date=February 1, 1946 |title=Such Discussion Can Help Build A Better City |url=http://www.infoweb.newsbank.com/resources/doc/nb/image/page/v2:127D718D1E33F961@EANX-12A7B9F3A7E28956@2431853-12A7B36A03C830FD@5?p=AMNEWS |url-access=registration |access-date=May 14, 2018 |work=The Seattle Daily Times |page=6}}{{cite news |last1=Berger |first1=Knute |date=April 30, 2020 |title=Transplants vs. locals is the cultural permafrost always under Seattle's feet. |publisher=Crosscut |url=https://crosscut.com/2020/04/one-woman-war-against-seattles-icy-pricey-reputation?fbclid=IwAR0QPJBL91FQ8CtVBpOMskhGSIJ3d2qxwVV0ol41l759BhSO4DhDIPIC8vY |access-date=May 1, 2020}} Seattle experienced an influx of new residents from California beginning in the 1980s, and a 2005 article in The Seattle Times appears to be the first known use of the term.{{cite news |first=Jim | last=Gates |date=March 17, 2014 |title=Is The Seattle Freeze A Real Thing? |publisher=KUOW |url=http://kuow.org/post/seattle-freeze-real-thing}}
A 2008 peer-reviewed study published in Perspectives on Psychological Science found that among all 50 states, Washington residents ranked 48th in the personality trait extraversion.{{cite journal |last1=Rentfrow |first1=Peter J. |last2=Gosling |first2=Samuel D. |last3=Potter |first3=Jeff |date=September 2008 |title=A Theory of the Emergence, Persistence, and Expression of Geographic Variation in Psychological Characteristics |journal=Perspectives on Psychological Science |volume=3 |issue=5 |pages=339–369 |doi=10.1111/j.1745-6924.2008.00084.x |pmid=26158954 |s2cid=17059908}} In 2014, a report by a local nonprofit organization ranked the population 48th out of 50 similarly sized cities in "talking with neighbors frequently",{{cite web |last1=Permenter |first1=Cody |date=May 2, 2016 |access-date=April 13, 2022 |title=How I Learned to Love the Seattle Freeze |url=https://www.thrillist.com/lifestyle/seattle/how-i-learned-to-love-the-seattle-freeze |website=Thrillist}} and 37th for "giving or receiving favors".{{Cite web |last=Holmdale |first=Kearsten |date=February 13, 2014 |title=Study confirms 'Seattle Freeze' is real and rampant |url=https://www.q13fox.com/news/study-confirms-seattle-freeze-is-real-and-rampant |access-date=April 13, 2022 |website=KCPQ |language=en-US}} The rapid growth of Amazon and its accompanying influx of technology workers who could be considered more introverted than other working professionals may have exacerbated the issue.{{citation |last=Reifman |first=Jeff |title=Peepless in Seattle: Dating, Friendship and the Seattle Freeze |date=March 22, 2015 |access-date=April 13, 2022 |url=http://jeffreifman.com/2015/03/22/peepless-in-seattle-dating-friendship-and-the-seattle-freeze-after-forty}}{{citation |title=Amageddon: How Amazon's culture is taking a toll on Seattle's future |date=November 19, 2014 |access-date=April 13, 2022 |url=http://www.geekwire.com/2014/commentary-amageddon-seattles-increasingly-obvious-future/ |publisher=Geekwire}} A 2019 nonscientific poll conducted by Seattle-based PEMCO Insurance found that about 40% of the 1,200 respondents in Washington and Oregon said making new friends was not important.{{Cite web |last=Clarridge |first=Christine |date=May 5, 2019 |title='Seattle Freeze': Forget making friends — half of Washington residents don't even want to talk to you |url=https://www.seattletimes.com/life/lifestyle/seattle-freeze-forget-making-friends-half-of-washington-residents-dont-even-want-to-talk-to-you/ |access-date=April 13, 2022 |website=The Seattle Times |language=en-US}} In a similar 2022 poll, about two-thirds of residents agreed, at least somewhat, that giving newcomers the "cold shoulder" was a typical trait from those in the Pacific Northwest.
The Seattle Freeze was discussed in relation to isolation experienced during COVID-19 pandemic-related lockdowns due to the region's already engrained propensity for "cultural distancing."{{Cite news |last=Paton |first=Dean |date=May 13, 2020 |title=Why Washington state was so prepared for its pandemic challenge |work=Christian Science Monitor |url=https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2020/0513/Why-Washington-state-was-so-prepared-for-its-pandemic-challenge |access-date=April 13, 2022 |issn=0882-7729}} However, the Director of the University of Washington's Center for the Science of Social Connection draws a distinction between solitude in lockdown, which may be experienced and dissipated collectively, versus looking in on sociality from the outside, which may be lonelier and which is the form of solitude most associated with the Seattle Freeze.{{Cite web |last=Sayler |first=Zoe |date=August 4, 2020 |title=The Future of Social Lives: Could Covid-19 Melt the Seattle Freeze? |url=https://www.seattlemet.com/news-and-city-life/2020/08/the-future-of-social-lives-could-covid-19-melt-the-seattle-freeze |access-date=April 13, 2022 |website=Seattle Met |language=en-US}}
Effects
According to data from the 2024 US Census survey, 43% of Washingtonians reported feeling lonely at least occasionally, one of the highest in the nation. In an early 2024 survey, half (50%) of young adults in Seattle reported feelings of loneliness. The survey also indicated that around 4 in 10 respondents reported thoughts of suicide.{{Cite news |last=Clarridge |first=Christine |last2=Mallenbaum |first2=Carly |date=30 September 2024 |title=Loneliness in Washington Tops National Average |url=https://www.axios.com/local/seattle/2024/09/30/washington-loneliness-rates-lonely-isolation-health |access-date=2 October 2024 |work=Axios Seattle}} The Seattle Freeze has been cited as an exacerbating factor for the high rates of loneliness in Seattle and the surrounding region; along with social media, the weather and the general rise of the loneliness epidemic.
See also
{{Portal|Society|Psychology}}