Secret’s founder returns with anti-loneliness app Ikaria

Hannah Arendt claims that loneliness was necessary for the rise of totalitarianism in the 20th century.

She writes:

> Loneliness, the common ground for terror, the essence of totalitarian government, and for ideology or logicality, the preparation of its executioners and victims, is closely connected with uprootedness and superfluousness which have been the curse of modern masses since the beginning of the industrial revolution and have become acute with the rise of imperialism at the end of the last century and the break-down of political institutions and social traditions in our own time. To be uprooted means to have no place in the world, recognized and guaranteed by others; to be superfluous means not to belong to the world at all. Uprootedness can be the preliminary condition for superfluousness, just as isolation can (but must not) be the preliminary condition for loneliness. Taken in itself, without consideration of its recent historical causes and its new role in politics, loneliness is at the same time contrary to the basic requirements of the human condition and one of the fundamental experiences of every human life. Even the experience of the materially and sensually given world depends upon my being in contact with other men, upon our common sense which regulates and controls all other senses and without which each of us would enclosed in his own particularity of sense data which in themselves are unreliable and treacherous. Only because we have common sense, that is only because not one man, but men in the plural inhabit the earth can we trust our immediate sensual experience. Yet, we have only to remind ourselves that one day we shall have to leave this common world which will go on as before and for whose continuity we are superfluous in order to realize loneliness, the experience of being abandoned by everything and everybody.

Dealing with "uprootedness and superfluousness" is one of the most perplexing questions facing modernity. I doubt an app can address this but...good luck.

>You described people with drug and alcohol issues who have game addiction issues on top.

I had no such thing in mind at all. Not sure if me or you misread this subthread, but blaming guys who cannot find a local match for their depression (if they take place; this idea was brought out of nowhere) seems too prejudicial, while more prosaic explanations exist - they cannot compete at their best.

Op was like “girls in town choose foreigners so local guys feel like loser”, and you jumped to “they are all game addicts, and drugs, and alcohol, their fault”.

I'd argue that modern day issue of loneliness is an urban design problem way more than it is a technology problem.

The suburbs are isolating, and building strip malls instead of walkable downtowns (for both suburbs and denser areas) just adds to that. We pushed for the quiet and privacy of suburbs but took it so far that we eliminated the human interaction.

We need to start prioritizing spaces and urban design that encourage social interaction. Build walkable downtowns around commuter rail stations. More parks, coffeeshops, community spaces to suit different hobbies, etc.

As with most things, humans are generally predictable. People in every generation will feel like their own society threatened in one form or another.

I'm not afraid of change - i grew up around technology during the 90s where we played outside every day and consider myself "up to date" wrt the current zeitgeist. I firmly believe technology (especially space tech) is the way forward but i still have reservations about the current sate of social media due to the effects on the psyche i see in people in my life. But that's just my experience.

Nah, it was not merely depression. Full quote: "men of town have drowned themselves in video games, porn and drinking/drugs". Which is way more then being depressed. It does not matter whose is to be blamed, but dating anyone like that is receipt for unavailable alcoholic partner. And she won't meet him anyway, cause he is moving solely among males.

His explanation is "because they've no meaningful relationships", but then he proceed to define meaningfull relationships as romantic only.

No girl can fix any of that. They can't fix lack of friendship, can't fix lack of familly relationships, can't fix no roots in local community. Women are not rewards for good behavior nor cure for mental health problems. If you expect any of that, you will end up ressentful of partner who won't be able to provide that much.

Having long term partner is not cure all, nor cure for depression or loneliness. Not in long term, not after initial honeymoon passionate period ends.

I doubt that majority of town girls have foreign long distance intercultural partners. Such relationships are quote hard to keep and generally rare. Despite there being some girls with foreign boyfriend, majority will date local or not at all.

And plenty of girls have depressions on their own, mental health problems, bad habits, possibly own addiction struggles. Problems in families with relatives or on the job.