A viral Reddit thread is sparking a debate about ‘spatial awareness’ in London has left users threatening to leave the capital, with one user branding the tourist population as “goldfish on land”
They say London is the city that never stops, and they wouldn’t be wrong. Except for those who do stop. Everywhere.
With the city’s population standing at a robust 9.84 million people as of 2025, you’d be hard-pressed to find too much stagnation. But there are some who like to pause in odd places and position themselves at awkward junctures which leads to inconvenience for many.
At least that’s what a viral thread on Reddit claims. Asking the all-important question: “Why is people’s spatial awareness in London so bad?” in a subreddit called ‘London’, a Reddit user’s now viral thread is bringing all sorts of perspectives to the table.
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Further elaborating on the question, the Redditor continues: “And no I don’t just mean tourists stopping for photos/in front of you but generally, Londoners do it too. Crowding the door on a bus so everyone has to do the awkward shimmy to get off, crowding around the entrances in pubs making it awkward for people coming in.
“And don’t get me started on prams, because they have to be absolutely everywhere of course. Generally prams can be okay but they’re a pain on narrow pavements, in Soho etc. I think a lot of this boils down to apathy and a lack of care for others in public, ‘I’m here and if that inconveniences you, tough’. People walking in a group of 3 or 4 taking up a whole pavement for themselves…”
The user adds: “Social decorum has been on a bit of a decline in recent years but can we all be a bit more considerate of others, especially the elderly and less abled, we all live in the same city, let’s make it more bearable. That is all.”
One Redditor, agreeing with the original poster, wrote: “I agree on the terrible spatial awareness. My personal pet peeve is people blocking stairs, escalators and doors to stop and chat or just generally look around. Like, if you need to stop in a busy place for any reason, be it tying your shoelace, getting a drink of water, looking at your phone, etc – step the duck aside to not block those behind you.
“I’m also always amazed by people stopping and staring at tube maps at platform entrances. Surely EVERYONE now has a map on their phone they can look at instead,” they added.
While another sarcastically commented: “Classic Londoner move I’ve learned since moving here is to abruptly stop walking in the middle of the sidewalk to check your phone.”
Another Redditor took a cheeky jab at… well, the whole world, saying: “One thing I’ve noticed as I get older is there is a significant percentage of the population (in the world, not just London) who just don’t have a clue. Room temperature IQ. Basically goldfish on land. Unless there are signs directly in front of them telling them what to do they are barely able to function. No inner thoughts, purely reacting in the moment. They’re not ‘only thinking of themselves’ as many assume; they’re actually thinking of nothing at all.”
In fact, one Redditor went so far as to consider moving out of London as they wrote: “Been asking this for years! Why is it soooo bad?! No queuing, no civility…behaving in ways that make NO sense. Not letting people off before they pile on, not moving down to let people on. People leaning on others and using up so much space… maybe I just need to move out of London.”
However some were critical of the original post, with one user commenting: “Complaining about prams being on pavements is a bit ridiculous.”
One user summed up the general sentiment of the thread and wrote: “I reckon that a lot of people think they’re more spatially aware than they actually are. If that makes sense.”
Do you think people in London have a spatial awareness issue? Let us know in the comments.