Navigator: Beyond Those Paper-Thin Walls

I once woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of metal banging against a wall. Someone was yelling, but, in my half-asleep state, I waved it off as an unruly neighbor returning drunk from a party. When the noise didn’t stop, I listened closer. “Help!” he was yelling. My neighbor who uses a wheelchair had fallen. I got up and called 911 for him. That was perhaps the only time I was thankful for the thin walls of my condo building.

Having thin walls is a reminder that cities are jam-packed with people. While city living can be lonely, we’re rarely alone, even in our own homes. At times, the things we hear are eye-opening, offering an unsolicited glimpse into the private lives (sometimes too private) of our neighbors—and vice-versa. We can be drawn to their quirky habits, like one Redditor who, responding to a trending thread this week, said his neighbor likes to sing opera while doing the dishes. Another user recounted an “argument about money … [that] ended with a slammed door and one of them on a piano, hitting the keys like a maniac.”