Once you spend some time away from the US you'll see that you're definitely not the insane one - even though car-centric infrastructure is a thing in many countries, and lots of young people dream of having cars, nowhere is it mandatory like it is in the suburban US.
It was definitely also one of my bigger reasons for leaving the US as well. I'm not a fan of cars; both the driving and the maintenance/parking/upkeep stress me out a lot, but even more important to me is the catastrophic effect that cars have on their surroundings. US suburbs are isolating, lifeless places - going from place to place involves sealing yourself off from the world in a metal box, and what little walking you do is through parking lots. It's something that seems completely normal if you've lived in suburbs all your life, but once I actually lived in cities abroad I was instantly and completely enraptured by walkable areas with public spaces. It's not really something I can quantify, but being in or even just walking through a visibly lively area gives me such a sense of well-being, and the ability to go anywhere by just walking out your front door with your own to legs is somehow exciting to me.
Once you spend some time away from the US you'll see that you're definitely not the insane one - even though car-centric infrastructure is a thing in many countries, and lots of young people dream of having cars, nowhere is it mandatory like it is in the suburban US.
It was definitely also one of my bigger reasons for leaving the US as well. I'm not a fan of cars; both the driving and the maintenance/parking/upkeep stress me out a lot, but even more important to me is the catastrophic effect that cars have on their surroundings. US suburbs are isolating, lifeless places - going from place to place involves sealing yourself off from the world in a metal box, and what little walking you do is through parking lots. It's something that seems completely normal if you've lived in suburbs all your life, but once I actually lived in cities abroad I was instantly and completely enraptured by walkable areas with public spaces. It's not really something I can quantify, but being in or even just walking through a visibly lively area gives me such a sense of well-being, and the ability to go anywhere by just walking out your front door with your own to legs is somehow exciting to me.