Casual flair as it's not too serious but I'm in my early thirties now.
I've grown up in a smallish town in the south.
Everyone knows everybody kinda thing. The 4-5 main schools/colleges etc. Go out drinking same places blah blah blah.
I stopped drinking some years ago but I'll still see people and can find them to be pretty negative and gossipy. A sense of trying to bring other people down in a jokey manner – more than lighthearted banter. It's just mean.
I'm more and more detaching myself from these environments over the years.
I know the USA gets a bad rep but I have been back and forth there for work in the last 5 years and don't get the same feeling over there. People are quite uplifting and want to help others succeed vs trying to knock them down a peg.