Many people did not think that Airbnb woud be successful in getting people to rent their private homes or apartments, etc. to strangers. Yet they report having more than 500,000 people willing to do this and more than ten million strangers renting from them. People are also exchanging items [like tools, cars, apartments, homes, etc.] with strangers. So, what is up with this? Who are these people? They are described as being college educated younger adults and older retired adults. Are they more casual about relationships? Are they more trusting of strangers? There have been speculations that young people are more accepting of casual relationships and not interested in more committed relationships and thus not put off by sharing things with complete strangers . Or is this comfort with strangers because young people are less interested in owning and holding on to things and more interested in relationships, traveling and making connections to new people [making friends]?
I've blogged about the problem of being weighted down by the past, worries and things [cars, homes, second homes, etc.]. Maybe those younger [and older] people are on to something as they keep from being attached to things and focus more on attachments to people and actively being part of a larger community [the world]?
What do you think?