Gated Communities

I have two lots of friends living in gated communities and the jury is out in my head as to whether I think they are a good idea. If you are living on the inside , they seem to create a good sense of community, security, friendship and are very much the modern village. If you are on the outside you feel like you are an intruder and the whole business with the gates is a deterrent to freely seeing people who are supposed to be friends. One of the communities is well services with an office, maintenance people on site and facilities.It very neat and clean. The homes are of varying sizes and the  floor plans are well thought out. They are all similar though in gated communities. All the homes look the same. Yesterday I was going through the rigmarole at the gate to press the numbers so my friends would answer and one older woman in her car was beeping and getting very cross because I wasn't going through the gate the van before me had opened after he'd gone through the touch pad hoo-ha at the front. I was surprised. I thought if anyone could just drive through the open gate because another car had opened it, well, what was the point of all that rigmarole? Then I discovered my friends can watch the incoming on their TV set so it is a security set up...so why drive through when someone else has opened the gate? That bit works on trust because they don't have the technology to stop me from sneaking in behind someone. The old lady should have thought about that. The other community is one where you have to open and shut the gates and what a real dampener that is after a visit or a nice night out. All these people feel safe and happy, though. Says a lot about those of us fending out here for ourselves! Another friend lived in a gated community in America and the home itself was beautiful but she said she didn't see anyone really and they used to communicate with notes in the letterbox. I would have been emailing and on chat at least. These gated communities are a bit odd but the inhabitants wouldn't say that. They'd love them I am sure. The village set up is great. Just what we need in our society. The gates? I'd leave them open.