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The Loneliness Epidemic

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Re: The Loneliness Epidemic

#101

Post by WkndTriathlete »

Fauntleroy wrote: post #22
xamuel wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very true. People think of verses like Leviticus 20:13 (homosexuals condemned to death) but forget verses like John 8:7, "Let he who is without sin throw the first stone." Perhaps one of the most relevant teachings of Jesus is from his Discourse on the Church when he says: "For where two or three gather together in My name, there am I with them." (Matthew 18:20)

I've got to be honest here, it's infuriating to see the extremely basic moral/social principles from the Bible held up on some kind of pedestal like they're a unique or difficult to come by idea. As an atheist I try to be a good person because it is something I innately want to do, not because it was a revelation I had in Bible study. The Bible did not invent "being nice to other people"

You're conflating your viewpoint and choice to be nice to people with atheistic philosophy in general. Imagine the following scenario: alien visitors show up and show the human race that they can cure malaria, cancer, heart disease, and addiction, and that all we have to do in return is sacrifice 100 people worldwide to supply the aliens with subjects for (lethal) medical experimentation to enable this to happen. Atheist philosophy would naturally have to consider the offer, whereas Christian philosophy would immediately reject it.

I think if you really sat down and thought about it you would come up with other moral/ethical scenarios that would land in your personal gray area that would be soundly rejected by Christianity.

Re: The Loneliness Epidemic

#102

Post by ghostcluster »

arvinsim wrote: post #47
dexwiz wrote: post #34

The Screen and the Job have displaced almost everything else is our lives. Loneliness is just a primary symptom. The Screen, whether it’s TV, computer, or phone, has supplanted almost all social interactions. This manifests itself in things like SitComs on TV (just a bunch of friends or family hanging out) or Social Media on phones. It’s very easy to fill the social needs of right now with a Screen. But under even a…

> The Job has completely taken over as a driving force in evaluating choices. Not to mention most of our time. People nowadays spend far more time at work than ever.

> People nowadays spend far more time at work than ever.

Average hours worked has gone down steadily over the last two centuries:

> 1830 69.1 hours per week

> 1880 60.7

> 1929 50.6

> 1988 42.4

> As the twentieth century ended there was nothing resembling a shorter hours “movement.” The length of the workweek continues to fall for most groups — but at a glacial pace. Some Americans complain about a lack of free time but the vast majority seem content with an average workweek of roughly forty hours — channeling almost all of their growing wages into higher incomes rather than increased leisure time.

https://eh.net/encyclopedia/hours-of-work-in-u-s-history/

Re: The Loneliness Epidemic

#103

Post by BurningFrog »

ikeyany wrote: post #78
dexwiz wrote: post #34

The Screen and the Job have displaced almost everything else is our lives. Loneliness is just a primary symptom. The Screen, whether it’s TV, computer, or phone, has supplanted almost all social interactions. This manifests itself in things like SitComs on TV (just a bunch of friends or family hanging out) or Social Media on phones. It’s very easy to fill the social needs of right now with a Screen. But under even a…

> The Job has completely taken over as a driving force in evaluating choices. The average person has to consider all options in the light of both the current employer and the specter of tomorrow’s. How is this different than what the majority of civilization had to do throughout history? People have always clung to their profession as their identity. Hell, people used to name themselves after their profession. If tha…

When people named themselves after their job, it was often because the whole family did the job, and it was inherited.

This is the opposite of loneliness.

Re: The Loneliness Epidemic

#104

Post by BurningFrog »

arvinsim wrote: post #47
dexwiz wrote: post #34

The Screen and the Job have displaced almost everything else is our lives. Loneliness is just a primary symptom. The Screen, whether it’s TV, computer, or phone, has supplanted almost all social interactions. This manifests itself in things like SitComs on TV (just a bunch of friends or family hanging out) or Social Media on phones. It’s very easy to fill the social needs of right now with a Screen. But under even a…

> The Job has completely taken over as a driving force in evaluating choices. Not to mention most of our time. People nowadays spend far more time at work than ever.

People nowadays know less about history than ever.

Re: The Loneliness Epidemic

#105

Post by squish78 »

logfromblammo wrote: post #82
squish78 wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm amazed at the responses and downvotes to this comment. Is everyone terrified of small talk with their neighbors?

I live in a place where the neighbors are likely to talk about their religion, their football team, their other football team, their kids, their kid's football team, something implicitly racist, something explicitly racist, their job/boss/business (or lack thereof), or their vehicle. I'd only want to hear about two of those things. I'd prefer to talk about events or ideas, or activities that interest me. It's far eas…

It's hard to make friends when you assume you're superior to everyone

Re: The Loneliness Epidemic

#106

Post by gordaco »

dexwiz wrote: post #34

The Screen and the Job have displaced almost everything else is our lives. Loneliness is just a primary symptom. The Screen, whether it’s TV, computer, or phone, has supplanted almost all social interactions. This manifests itself in things like SitComs on TV (just a bunch of friends or family hanging out) or Social Media on phones. It’s very easy to fill the social needs of right now with a Screen. But under even a…

All of this is 100% correct. In particular: the amount of choices that have become "career killers" and therefore unacceptable is terrifying.

Choose a degree that appeals to you, where you will learn what you like, instead of one which acts as a stepping stone for a higher paying job? Even in countries with sane tuition prices (read: not the US) plenty of people will blame you, and that decision in particular, for any financial problem for all your life.

Become pregnant, and/or plan to work fewer hours for some time to take care of your kids or any older relative? How brave of you. Here's your prize in the form of reduced pay for the next 10 years or so.

Decline that managing position because you like your current job better and you know you won't enjoy being a manager? Cue the disapproval stares from people close to you.

Stay in your job for 15 years because you like the people, the work itself or some particular perk? When you finally leave, your next job will pay less than if you had hopped around each 2 years. That's if someone wants to hire you.

Sure, every decision counts and very often there is a tradeoff between trying to find happiness and trying to find a job that sustains you. However, lately the tension between those two is so high that any small decision towards living the life you want to live may very well end in financial misery for the rest of your life. This is not hyperbole; I know people who fucked up mildly once, fifteen years ago, and are still paying the price. And I'm one of the lucky ones... I haven't fallen through the cracks. Yet.

Re: The Loneliness Epidemic

#107

Post by [deleted] »

mises wrote: post #43
defterGoose wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you see that this is an extremely dogmatic view? If society has seemingly agreed that society needs government, part of society needs to actually administer that government.

> Can you see that this is an extremely dogmatic view? Snuck premise much? I doubt he'd agree that it's dogmatic, nor would I. Governments are certainly needed for certain things, but politicians tend to come up with problems to solve, or try to solve problems which they are not equipped to solve. They aren't really supposed to create a social order so much as a legal one, anyway. Even if the could, I'd see that as d…

[deleted]

Re: The Loneliness Epidemic

#108

Post by peteey »

major505 wrote: post #73

Really. I think the big problem here is social networks. Nobody interact face to face.I used to go to bars , look for a pretty girl and pay her a drink to start a conversation. Nowdays this is considered creep. They expect that I download an app, wait for a match ans just goeet for a quick chat and maybe some action. Just turn of your computers and go to a bar. Interact to people. Start conversations with stranger pe…

Offering strangers liquid drugs in hopes of "some action" was probably creepy back in the day too. Alcohol and hookup culture are not mutually exclusive to loneliness.

Re: The Loneliness Epidemic

#109

Post by [deleted] »

dexwiz wrote: post #34

The Screen and the Job have displaced almost everything else is our lives. Loneliness is just a primary symptom. The Screen, whether it’s TV, computer, or phone, has supplanted almost all social interactions. This manifests itself in things like SitComs on TV (just a bunch of friends or family hanging out) or Social Media on phones. It’s very easy to fill the social needs of right now with a Screen. But under even a…

[deleted]

Re: The Loneliness Epidemic

#110

Post by kinos »

freehunter wrote: post #84
ikeyany wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The Job has completely taken over as a driving force in evaluating choices. The average person has to consider all options in the light of both the current employer and the specter of tomorrow’s. How is this different than what the majority of civilization had to do throughout history? People have always clung to their profession as their identity. Hell, people used to name themselves after their profession. If tha…

Back in the days when people named themselves after their job, there was no difference between career and personal life. You didn’t work 8-5 and then completely disconnect, you worked whenever the job needed done as many hours as it took. Loneliness only sets in when you have nothing else to do and you’re all alone. If you’re swinging a hammer at a hot forge for 16 hours a day loneliness is a secondary concern.

Back when people had up to 6 months of time off a year?[1]

[1] https://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/users/rauch/worktime/hours_...

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