81–90 of 98 posts
Loneliness is a psychological problem masquerading as a social one. Look, there are people all around us. Neighborhood streets have, what, 50 people on them? People congregate at churches, bars, coffee shops, even Wal-Marts. Loneliness is a self-inflicted problem. I'm not saying that to belittle it, I'm saying it because the reasons most people give for being lonely have nothing to do with the actual reasons. Real, a…
Loneliness is a psychological problem masquerading as a social one. Look, there are people all around us. Neighborhood streets have, what, 50 people on them? People congregate at churches, bars, coffee shops, even Wal-Marts. Loneliness is a self-inflicted problem. I'm not saying that to belittle it, I'm saying it because the reasons most people give for being lonely have nothing to do with the actual reasons. Real, a…
This is complete BS, at least in some cases. For example, social phobia or autism can be the cause of loneliness.
Don't think the US can match Japan for loneliness/isolation.
Loneliness is a psychological problem masquerading as a social one. Look, there are people all around us. Neighborhood streets have, what, 50 people on them? People congregate at churches, bars, coffee shops, even Wal-Marts. Loneliness is a self-inflicted problem. I'm not saying that to belittle it, I'm saying it because the reasons most people give for being lonely have nothing to do with the actual reasons. Real, a…
> Loneliness is a self-inflicted problem. This is complete BS, at least in some cases. For example, social phobia or autism can be the cause of loneliness.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Idleness is dead. We're constantly picking up novel stimuli and concepts, getting triggered by emotional politics/entertainment, and following infinite trends... as soon as our minds are idle, we immediately jump back to the things we've been absorbing, or feel that obsessive itch to scan for new stimuli. What happened to being bored? To doing things, not because they were "cool" or even "fun", but simply because the…
Going out because there was nothing inside, and meeting other bored people, connecting on anything because it was better than nothing? To me, that's an alien experience. I was and am never bored when I'm alone, I just think and imagine. I only get bored when I have to pay attention to boring stuff that prevents me from drifting off.
There's no way you can argue that obesity is anything other than a conflict between the environment we evolved for, and the one we live in. Anywhere you go in America, you are surrounded by cheap empty calories, sugar and white flour, both highly addictive substances, and also surrounded by advertising urging consumption of the above. For us to not have an obesity epidemic would be astonishing.
By the same token, the only kind of negotiating power the modern worker has in finding a good salary is the power to quit, and so people quit often and early, which leads to them moving frequently away from the friends they've managed to find. All of us are also surrounded by messages telling us that for our lives to mean anything we must work longer, and spend more money, which doesn't leave much time for forging social bonds. Again, you can argue that nobody is forcing you to make these choices- but for us to have an epidemic of loneliness is completely unsurprising.
Loneliness and obesity have a common origin, or at least significantly overlapping causes. They both derive from living in an environment that is a) substantially different from what we are evolved for and b) loaded with social pressures and saturated with advertising that pressures people into making bad choices. There's no way you can argue that obesity is anything other than a conflict between the environment we e…
I'll bite. Obesity occurs because our food is too cheap. Especially in the US, our food is horrendously cheap for a ton of calories. I (by some mistake) bought a $4 taco the other day that was about 1000 calories (and quite good).
We went from having people dying from hunger, to having too much food available for extremely low prices. I eat on about $50 a week and live like a damned king - fresh gourmet bread, chicken and steak twice a day, hand folded pasta, imported olive oil, etc.
A few hundred years ago and you were doing well to have some soup and a piece of bread on a daily basis. Now I can get a decent bottle of wine for below $8.
> By the same token, the only kind of negotiating power the modern worker has in finding a good salary is the power to quit, and so people quit often and early, which leads to them moving frequently away from the friends they've managed to find.
I don't think that's it either. I think, just like food has gotten to be too cheap and too readily accessible for our primate brains, we've managed to fake having friends. I can send a facebook friend request and get it accepted by anyone, I can have a drink with coworkers after work, or talk over the water cooler about game of thrones - and none of those are meaningful friends.
Again, it's too "cheap" to form faux relationships. There's a (probably entirely unsourced) quote that it takes about 18 months to know a person. How many people do you spend quality, non-work time with, at least one or twice a month, for at least two years? For most people that may not even include their spouse.
Loneliness is a psychological problem masquerading as a social one. Look, there are people all around us. Neighborhood streets have, what, 50 people on them? People congregate at churches, bars, coffee shops, even Wal-Marts. Loneliness is a self-inflicted problem. I'm not saying that to belittle it, I'm saying it because the reasons most people give for being lonely have nothing to do with the actual reasons. Real, a…
Loneliness is a psychological problem masquerading as a social one. Look, there are people all around us. Neighborhood streets have, what, 50 people on them? People congregate at churches, bars, coffee shops, even Wal-Marts. Loneliness is a self-inflicted problem. I'm not saying that to belittle it, I'm saying it because the reasons most people give for being lonely have nothing to do with the actual reasons. Real, a…
It's one thing to hang out with friends at a coffee shop and beat yourself up over life not turning out the way you wanted it to. It's quite another thing not to have any friends. Most of the people in the coffee shops around here have their noses buried in their laptops or books, and when they talk to people they mostly talk to friends who they went to the coffee shop with. Very few people are actually meeting new p…