Is there something wrong with the social cohesiveness of New Zealand if people need an app like Neighbourly ?
Last week there was an editorial in the ‘new look’ Kaikoura Star inviting readers to jump on a “wee gem” of an app called Neighbourly, presumably to help spread the gospel of New Zealand: book of Kaikoura, and to reinforce those feel good feelings about having to live there. Evidentially, the scenery is not enough.
One has to ask why a country like New Zealand needs an app for people to get to know their neighbours? What does that say about the country’s social cohesiveness? Do people in NZ prefer to talk to their neighbours on-line rather than across the garden fence?
Have you tried the app, what would you say about your little slice of NZ heaven?
The Neighbourly app is available from neighbourly.co.nz/mobile.
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Isolated and Lonely; New Zealanders Fare Worst For Social Connectedness: Sovereign Wellbeing Index (May 2015)
The latest biennial Sovereign Wellbeing Index has been published, and it’s still not good news for New Zealand, with no improvement since the 2013 survey.
It appears the lack of a social life, and an almost negligible sense of community, is affecting people’s wellbeing in the most remote country on earth. This is something to consider if you’re from Europe and are leaving friends and family to emigrate to New Zealand.
Having a support network and somewhere positive to raise your kids is far more important than you’d realise…
“Kiwis are socially disconnected and it is taking a toll on their wellbeing, according to a new study.
The Sovereign Wellbeing Index 2015 results found almost 40 per cent of New Zealanders only met with others socially once a month or less.
Meanwhile, only 4 per cent of the 10,000 New Zealanders surveyed said they felt close to people in their local area.
New Zealand fared the worst when it came to social connections and community compared to 29 European countries that carried out the same study…source
The 29 European Countries compared to New Zealand are those included in the biennial European Social Survey.
The survey also revealed that 2 out of every 3 young people in New Zealand show signs of a depressed mood, something to bear in mind if you’re taking your kids there because you think it’ll be a better place for them to grow up. Add that to the country’s appallingly high youth suicide record (the rate for females is the highest in the OECD and males aren’t far befind) and you may want to consider somewhere else.
Here’s the rankings for the wellbeing features, compared to 29 European countries, New Zealand ranks in the bottom 10 across all scale items. After reading this you may decide to stay put or look somewhere else…
… read on
E2NZ.org 
New Zealanders like to keep to themselves. They don’t trust each other, let alone anybody else. My elderly neighbour talks about how everybody was friendly in her city, and where I live, you say hello to somebody they don’t reply back. It’s just an atmosphere of coldness and hostility in general. Also, some neighbours love to snoop on other people, when my mum was at my auntie’s house she was washing some seashells in the garden and my aunt’s neighbours were looking through the wooden fence seeing what she was doing. It’s really annoying, haven’t they heard of privacy? It’s bad enough we are all victims of a 1984 Big Brother dystopian era.
I am so disturbed by the culture of my own country that I had to leave. I am out now and having a psychological rest from deviant inbred low-life scum. I was ganged up on also by my village in a rural zone (a conservation reserve) and it was because I am an environmentalist. I had tried to stop the retarded idiots felling protected native trees. They spend their time engaging in vandalism, harassment, bullying and malicious gossip when they are not pissed out of their tiny pea brains on hooch. They vandalized my property as revenge for taking them to the environment court. Getting the local inbred redneck police to assist was impossible, They have been letting these psychopaths get away with everything for years, including discharging firearms at other residents that they had a grudge with. A friend of mine was nearly shot in his own front yard. Quite a few tried to get police assistance some years ago and the police would not lay any charges on those men doing really serious crime. One man has a huge criminal record and it was clear that he was the culprit on one occasion, and still he was not charged. Now they have moved out of the village, or have given up and try to live with it.
that sounds really horrible can you say the name of the town please glad you have escaped
Waipori Falls outside of Dunedin.. I am glad to be overseas and not having to deal with really messed up people of the type that is readily found in NZ.
Can we not with the ableism? It is never acceptable to use the r-word.
[Deleted, your ban still stands. Admin]
I have noticed that Kiwis are enamoured with gossip. Especially if you live in a small town.
I wondered about this and questioned some Kiwis about it. Seems this is a way of “conversing” and is often the only fuel [talking about others] for any sort of dialogue. Maybe because there is not much going on, a source of entertainment? [as unfortunate as that might seem]
Looks like a glorified classified adverts on an app and guess what… the App admins have all your personal details & contacts with them as soon as your get such apps installed…Isn’t it “sadly” amazing !
I don’t think the day is far when such apps will be marketed to “connect” to your partner sitting in the adjacent room.
Haha ,check out the registration requirements ,they want to know everything,nope I’m not giving the snoop culture my personal information for the privilege of being a member of their noses neighbour club