Do Southern states in USA really have such poor housing?

Note: All the information I have about this topic comes from a few friends i have who live in texas so if anything is wrong please correct me

So my friend told me that their house in texas requires a lot of air conditioning just to get by in the summer. And I could kind of relate because in my country also we have terrible heatwaves and summers. Now he told me that his and most of his friends run their AC around 18 hours a day😭. And I thought alright that's also normal ig. But then he said they also don't open their windows much because of the constant heat and humidity.

I was kinda baffled at this. Like atleast open it during the night? Or evening?

Now I was interested in how their houses are built actually that they need so much air conditioning. So I looked into it and uhhh I was baffled.

The climate in that place is not suitable to build thin walled wood houses at all. It might work in the north but in such hot and humid places only thick bricks and high ceilings can keep a house naturally cool. And apparantly brick houses are hard to make because it's expensive. 😔

Now I know that climate nowadays is too hot to live without an AC and I'm not saying to stop using ACs. What I'm saying is, the houses can be built better.

You can't just live in a dry, hot region and build houses for snowy conditions .Too much air conditioning is not good for body. Anyways I might be wrong but please be kind in replies