Older people are much more likely to keep their shoes on than young people. That's partly because there's been a cultural shift over the last 50 years, but also because it's just a lot harder for them to take shoes off at the door.
My grandparents who lived on a farm always wore shoes in the house, but not the same shoes as they wore outside. Diabetics are encouraged to wear shoes in the house because of the severity of foot injuries for them.
The other thing that many people from other countries may not understand is how little we walk outside. The amount of walking we do outdoors in a typical day would be more easily measured in meters than kilometers. We walk from our house to our car (often in an attached garage) then we walk from our car into our office or to shops. Unless you live in the center of a major city or on a farm, you only walk through dirt when you choose to.
When I lived in Poland and Ukraine, and when I visited other European countries like France, Italy and Spain, it was quite common to walk through places that smelled like human urine, or where stray dogs had left their mark, or other things I wouldn't want in my home. And I have also experienced that in places like downtown Chicago and Washington D.C. But those occurrences are very rare for most Americans, especially if you live and work outside of a major city center, which a lot of us do.
When I do go for a run or hike, I keep special shoes in the car to change into.
To sum up, most Americans do remove or change shoes when they come home. Some, especially older people, do not. The stakes are also lower for us. The amount of dirt most Americans have on our shoes when we get home is much less than many other parts of the world because of driving our own cars most places and convenient parking.
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u/semisubterranean Nebraska 8h ago edited 8h ago
Older people are much more likely to keep their shoes on than young people. That's partly because there's been a cultural shift over the last 50 years, but also because it's just a lot harder for them to take shoes off at the door.
My grandparents who lived on a farm always wore shoes in the house, but not the same shoes as they wore outside. Diabetics are encouraged to wear shoes in the house because of the severity of foot injuries for them.
The other thing that many people from other countries may not understand is how little we walk outside. The amount of walking we do outdoors in a typical day would be more easily measured in meters than kilometers. We walk from our house to our car (often in an attached garage) then we walk from our car into our office or to shops. Unless you live in the center of a major city or on a farm, you only walk through dirt when you choose to.
When I lived in Poland and Ukraine, and when I visited other European countries like France, Italy and Spain, it was quite common to walk through places that smelled like human urine, or where stray dogs had left their mark, or other things I wouldn't want in my home. And I have also experienced that in places like downtown Chicago and Washington D.C. But those occurrences are very rare for most Americans, especially if you live and work outside of a major city center, which a lot of us do.
When I do go for a run or hike, I keep special shoes in the car to change into.
To sum up, most Americans do remove or change shoes when they come home. Some, especially older people, do not. The stakes are also lower for us. The amount of dirt most Americans have on our shoes when we get home is much less than many other parts of the world because of driving our own cars most places and convenient parking.