Researchers Confront an Epidemic of Loneliness
1–10 of 48 posts
Re: Researchers Confront an Epidemic of Loneliness
#2the TV consensus has been breached. Now suffer the existential pain!
Re: Researchers Confront an Epidemic of Loneliness
#3Article focuses on senior citizens. But loneliness is far from only senior people problem. More and more young and middle age men and women are lonely in western world. Maybe this will be a step towards trying to do something about young people loneliness too, as lonely young people have even worse impact on society than lonely old people.
Re: Researchers Confront an Epidemic of Loneliness
#4The book "The Lonely American: Drifting Apart in the Twenty-first Century" by Jacqueline Olds explores this topic at length. I recommend it to anyone interested in a thorough (and at times, heart-wrenching) treatment of the topic.
Re: Researchers Confront an Epidemic of Loneliness
#5Article focuses on senior citizens. But loneliness is far from only senior people problem. More and more young and middle age men and women are lonely in western world. Maybe this will be a step towards trying to do something about young people loneliness too, as lonely young people have even worse impact on society than lonely old people.
Young people can walk and drive longer distances, and so normally have less reason to remain lonely, I would guess.
Do lonely young people continue to be lonely mainly because they don't know how to initiate social interaction? Or because they don't realize that companionship is what they need?
Re: Researchers Confront an Epidemic of Loneliness
#6Article focuses on senior citizens. But loneliness is far from only senior people problem. More and more young and middle age men and women are lonely in western world. Maybe this will be a step towards trying to do something about young people loneliness too, as lonely young people have even worse impact on society than lonely old people.
Young people can walk and drive longer distances, and so normally have less reason to remain lonely, I would guess. Do lonely young people continue to be lonely mainly because they don't know how to initiate social interaction? Or because they don't realize that companionship is what they need?
Both
Re: Researchers Confront an Epidemic of Loneliness
#7Article focuses on senior citizens. But loneliness is far from only senior people problem. More and more young and middle age men and women are lonely in western world. Maybe this will be a step towards trying to do something about young people loneliness too, as lonely young people have even worse impact on society than lonely old people.
Young people can walk and drive longer distances, and so normally have less reason to remain lonely, I would guess. Do lonely young people continue to be lonely mainly because they don't know how to initiate social interaction? Or because they don't realize that companionship is what they need?
I suspect many lonelies don't conform to the conventional "nuclear family" which makes it harder to find social outlets. Or they're older and/or divorced.
It seems to me like there used to be a lot more clubs and interest groups meeting regularly 20 years ago. In my area (near Philly) all the meetups seem to take place near our downtown metro area, creating travel constraints which make it hard for someone without a car to attend. And even then, most clubs meet only once a month, which doesn't make for much human contact.
I suspect the availability of interest groups on the web/net has diminished the demand to meet in person, which no doubt contributes to the loss of interpersonal bonding.
Re: Researchers Confront an Epidemic of Loneliness
#8the TV consensus has been breached. Now suffer the existential pain!
What is "the TV consensus?" Google does not turn up anything useful for this term.
Re: Researchers Confront an Epidemic of Loneliness
#9Article focuses on senior citizens. But loneliness is far from only senior people problem. More and more young and middle age men and women are lonely in western world. Maybe this will be a step towards trying to do something about young people loneliness too, as lonely young people have even worse impact on society than lonely old people.
Young people can walk and drive longer distances, and so normally have less reason to remain lonely, I would guess. Do lonely young people continue to be lonely mainly because they don't know how to initiate social interaction? Or because they don't realize that companionship is what they need?
> Young people can walk and drive longer distances, and so normally have less reason to remain lonely, I would guess.
Where would a young person walk or drive to, if there is no-one to visit?
> Do lonely young people continue to be lonely mainly because they don't know how to initiate social interaction?
That's probably part of it. One can't walk up to random people and introduce oneself without being seen as some sort of creep or weirdo, after all.
> Or because they don't realize that companionship is what they need?
That probably doesn't help either.
Re: Researchers Confront an Epidemic of Loneliness
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
Young people can walk and drive longer distances, and so normally have less reason to remain lonely, I would guess. Do lonely young people continue to be lonely mainly because they don't know how to initiate social interaction? Or because they don't realize that companionship is what they need?
> Young people can walk and drive longer distances, and so normally have less reason to remain lonely, I would guess. Where would a young person walk or drive to, if there is no-one to visit? > Do lonely young people continue to be lonely mainly because they don't know how to initiate social interaction? That's probably part of it. One can't walk up to random people and introduce oneself without being seen as some so…
But are those the two main reasons? Or is there some other cause that I'm not considering?