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Show HN: Solo – App for sharing loneliness and aloneness

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Re: Show HN: Solo – App for sharing loneliness and aloneness

#71

Post by Jach »

DeusExMachina wrote: post #66
cyberferret wrote: post #30

As an INFP persona who has worked remotely and solo for many years, I'd like to break the stigma that "alone = bad". I find it incredibly energising a lot of the time, but then there are the odd times when I crave a little human social engagement. Traditional social media channels have devolved into a cesspit of noisy pollution, but I tend to occasionally post right here on HN, guitar forums, or even on obscure Reddi…

Tangentially, since you mention INFP. It seems to me that the Myers-Briggs test is becoming mainstream. I see people mention these personality codes more and more. But the test seems to have no scientific validity: http://www.indiana.edu/~jobtalk/Articles/develop/mbti.pdf

I don't think it's becoming more prevalent in the last 10 years, at least no more than mentioning your birth sign... But anyway (take with a grain of salt) the last time I looked at M-B it seemed that although there's no reason to take it very seriously scientifically, nevertheless it correlates surprisingly well with one of the psychology crown jewels, the Big 5, and misses out only on testing for neuroticism.

Re: Show HN: Solo – App for sharing loneliness and aloneness

#72

Post by doctorstupid »

jesperlang wrote: post #70
doctorstupid wrote: post #69

"Solo connects us in these moments when we are most authentic to ourselves" If we were authentic to ourselves we wouldn't need to share experiences. We wouldn't need an audience to authenticate them if we valued ourselves as worthy witnesses.

> If we were authentic to ourselves we wouldn't need to share experiences And sometimes, the experience is already shared with other people!

Very true. When friends fetch their smartphones to 'capture' the moment I suddenly feel lonely, getting the feeling that we no longer value our own memory, that only what can be digitally shared and verified is real. So we end up talking to the digital middleman whilst failing to remember the 'shared' moment.

Re: Show HN: Solo – App for sharing loneliness and aloneness

#73

Post by Fnoord »

blueatlas wrote: post #14
ohstopitu wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There have been times when I've felt extremly lonely. I think an app like this which connects lonely people together would be awesome! I generally just visit some random subreddits or random rooms on Discord when I feel lonely.

Or, connect lonely people to those that might lend an ear, offer advice, or just offer support in some other way.

Normally, I'd say go see your doctor. I'm not sure if he has solid advice for einsamkeit but at least he can reference to a psychologist so you can get treated for depression. Many elder people are lonely, but the underlying problem is actually depression.

There's an alternative to creating an Instagram or Facebook for lonely people: learn to deal with it, and take the positive out of loneliness.

1) You don't have to take other's viewpoints, desires, preferences, opinions into account.

2) You can live in silence, and can therefore decide if/when you play audio or video, read a book, play the piano. Heck, do a solo sport, or meditate.

Once you have solace with being lonely, you can be productive. You'll be able to for example study, you'll be able to write a book.

Then, when you do meet other people, you'll have something meaningful to sure.

And then an application like this can hook these people up. But I wonder if platforms like Instagram and Facebook don't already also serve that purpose. Or, heck, something like deviantArt.

If you can't entertain yourself while you're alone or if you can't be productive while you're alone that's not loneliness. That's depression. I adore being alone, its when I'm most productive. Then again, I'm a loner, and I embraced that, and because I was only child I learned to entertain myself whilst being alone.

Re: Show HN: Solo – App for sharing loneliness and aloneness

#74

Post by amelius »

DeusExMachina wrote: post #66
cyberferret wrote: post #30

As an INFP persona who has worked remotely and solo for many years, I'd like to break the stigma that "alone = bad". I find it incredibly energising a lot of the time, but then there are the odd times when I crave a little human social engagement. Traditional social media channels have devolved into a cesspit of noisy pollution, but I tend to occasionally post right here on HN, guitar forums, or even on obscure Reddi…

Tangentially, since you mention INFP. It seems to me that the Myers-Briggs test is becoming mainstream. I see people mention these personality codes more and more. But the test seems to have no scientific validity: http://www.indiana.edu/~jobtalk/Articles/develop/mbti.pdf

Forget about what the letters mean. Just think of the test as a clustering of personalities. That's how people are finding the test useful.

Re: Show HN: Solo – App for sharing loneliness and aloneness

#75

Post by gvx »

Jach wrote: post #71
DeusExMachina wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tangentially, since you mention INFP. It seems to me that the Myers-Briggs test is becoming mainstream. I see people mention these personality codes more and more. But the test seems to have no scientific validity: http://www.indiana.edu/~jobtalk/Articles/develop/mbti.pdf

I don't think it's becoming more prevalent in the last 10 years, at least no more than mentioning your birth sign... But anyway (take with a grain of salt) the last time I looked at M-B it seemed that although there's no reason to take it very seriously scientifically, nevertheless it correlates surprisingly well with one of the psychology crown jewels, the Big 5, and misses out only on testing for neuroticism.

My personal problems with M-B are

1) I have trouble understanding the significance all of the axes except for introversion/extroversion. For example, what is the concrete difference between INFP and INFJ?

2) The results of MBTI tests seem to vary wildly (at least for me), both between different tests at the same time, or within the same test when I take it at different times. I don't know if I have any consistent MBTI value other than that I lean towards introversion most of the time.

But if someone can link me to a good explanation of the different axes and/or recommend an MBTI test that isn't bullshit, I'd be grateful.

Re: Show HN: Solo – App for sharing loneliness and aloneness

#76

Post by urbanjunkie »

doctorstupid wrote: post #72
jesperlang wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If we were authentic to ourselves we wouldn't need to share experiences And sometimes, the experience is already shared with other people!

Very true. When friends fetch their smartphones to 'capture' the moment I suddenly feel lonely, getting the feeling that we no longer value our own memory, that only what can be digitally shared and verified is real. So we end up talking to the digital middleman whilst failing to remember the 'shared' moment.

Oh fuck off.

Re: Show HN: Solo – App for sharing loneliness and aloneness

#77

Post by Jach »

gvx wrote: post #75
Jach wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think it's becoming more prevalent in the last 10 years, at least no more than mentioning your birth sign... But anyway (take with a grain of salt) the last time I looked at M-B it seemed that although there's no reason to take it very seriously scientifically, nevertheless it correlates surprisingly well with one of the psychology crown jewels, the Big 5, and misses out only on testing for neuroticism.

My personal problems with M-B are 1) I have trouble understanding the significance all of the axes except for introversion/extroversion. For example, what is the concrete difference between INFP and INFJ? 2) The results of MBTI tests seem to vary wildly (at least for me), both between different tests at the same time, or within the same test when I take it at different times. I don't know if I have any consistent MBT…

Found some references again.. INFP and INFJ would mostly differ in Conscientiousness (the J being more so). Extraversion-Introversion correlates with Big 5 Extraversion (on the E pole), Thinking-Feeling with Agreeableness (F pole), Sensing-iNtuition with Openness to Experience (N pole), Judging-Perceiving with Conscientiousness (J pole). (http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.555...)

If you're on a boundary you might get more insight from breaking the Big 5 into the 10 aspects (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17983306), e.g. Conscientiousness can be split into Orderliness and Industriousness. You also might benefit from having someone close you think models you well (if available, this is the loneliness thread...) answer the test questions for you to see what they get, or perhaps as effective you answer for yourself and also for someone else you think you have a good model of to help highlight differences in degree.

Lastly since MBTI tests are still sketchy, go for a Big 5 test, read about the Big 5 (my first link has some useful descriptors), and forget about MB. For free, http://www.personal.psu.edu/%7Ej5j/IPIP/ exists and is the longest one I've seen. I've read that https://work.coach/assessment is useful. The only paid one I've heard about recently is the rather steep https://www.understandmyself.com/personality-assessment but I suspect like IQ tests paid might give the most utility... (I'm not part of the JBP fanclub but do listen in on him sometimes, so again grain of salt...)

Re: Show HN: Solo – App for sharing loneliness and aloneness

#78

Post by nicoburns »

DeusExMachina wrote: post #66
cyberferret wrote: post #30

As an INFP persona who has worked remotely and solo for many years, I'd like to break the stigma that "alone = bad". I find it incredibly energising a lot of the time, but then there are the odd times when I crave a little human social engagement. Traditional social media channels have devolved into a cesspit of noisy pollution, but I tend to occasionally post right here on HN, guitar forums, or even on obscure Reddi…

Tangentially, since you mention INFP. It seems to me that the Myers-Briggs test is becoming mainstream. I see people mention these personality codes more and more. But the test seems to have no scientific validity: http://www.indiana.edu/~jobtalk/Articles/develop/mbti.pdf

I think this is because no-one has articulated the hypothesis correctly yet. That and the official assessment is wildly innacurate. Interestingly, it seems that many people are independently discovering parts of the Jungian Type Theory. For example, Daniel Kahneman's Fast and Slow thinking (also system 1/system 2 thinking) seem to almost exactly match the P/J dichotomy from MB.

I'm writing a book on this...

Re: Show HN: Solo – App for sharing loneliness and aloneness

#79

Post by nicoburns »

gvx wrote: post #75
Jach wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think it's becoming more prevalent in the last 10 years, at least no more than mentioning your birth sign... But anyway (take with a grain of salt) the last time I looked at M-B it seemed that although there's no reason to take it very seriously scientifically, nevertheless it correlates surprisingly well with one of the psychology crown jewels, the Big 5, and misses out only on testing for neuroticism.

My personal problems with M-B are 1) I have trouble understanding the significance all of the axes except for introversion/extroversion. For example, what is the concrete difference between INFP and INFJ? 2) The results of MBTI tests seem to vary wildly (at least for me), both between different tests at the same time, or within the same test when I take it at different times. I don't know if I have any consistent MBT…

1) http://personalityjunkie.com note that the axis form a 2x4 grid, rather than being 4 independent axis. He info and info are actually very different due to sharing now cognitive functions. INTJ is the closest type to INFJ (as they share a dominant function). Think of the 4-letter codes as a weird encoding of the actual type.

2) The tests are all junk. The only accurate methid we have at the moment is teaching people the theory, and then helping them to self-assess

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