I find it has a lot to do with activation energy, or how much friction there is.
If something is too easy, it happens. If something is too hard/annoying to do relative to the reward, it doesn't.
When I lived in Boston, I was able to get myself to go to Tae Kwon Do classes because it was literally on my commute. When I'd work from home, I'd end up missing the class. When covid hit, same.
When I lived in Palo Alto, I rarely went to the city (and usually only when I could crash at a friend's place for the weekend) because the process of biking to caltrain, take caltrain, bike to wherever I wanna go, then reverse on my way home or catch an Uber, kinda ends up being an annoying or expensive process.
When I moved to SF, I went and partied what was probably more frequently than was healthy. Moving to Oakland brought the rate back down again, but to a level that felt a little too isolating. Getting a car seems to hit a sweet spot; driving isn't too bad, and I have a lot more options. Buuut being responsible for a car curbs the worse behaviors.
If something is too easy, it happens. If something is too hard/annoying to do relative to the reward, it doesn't.
When I lived in Boston, I was able to get myself to go to Tae Kwon Do classes because it was literally on my commute. When I'd work from home, I'd end up missing the class. When covid hit, same.
When I lived in Palo Alto, I rarely went to the city (and usually only when I could crash at a friend's place for the weekend) because the process of biking to caltrain, take caltrain, bike to wherever I wanna go, then reverse on my way home or catch an Uber, kinda ends up being an annoying or expensive process.
When I moved to SF, I went and partied what was probably more frequently than was healthy. Moving to Oakland brought the rate back down again, but to a level that felt a little too isolating. Getting a car seems to hit a sweet spot; driving isn't too bad, and I have a lot more options. Buuut being responsible for a car curbs the worse behaviors.