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Surgeon General says loneliness is driving US into anxiety and pessimism

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Re: Surgeon General says loneliness is driving US into anxiety and pessimism

#41

Post by wing-_-nuts »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #4
Salmonfisher11 wrote: post #3

[flagged]

Hear me out: shorter work week (4 day week), work life balance, and living where there is more density and public transit to reduce social friction. Humans are social creatures, they must have time and opportunity to be social. We've done the line go up thing, and it isn't working out great. Maybe we could try something else?

If we're suggesting utopian ideas that won't happen in the US, I'd personally love if we had the ability to turn our jobs part time like they do in the Netherlands.

I love writing software. I 'like' my job, but the 40h / wk 9-5 can be a drag. As I get older and more financially secure, I'd love the ability to cut my working days down to 2-3d / wk. My father has a job he works 2d / wk remote, and I'm not even sure he wants to retire anymore. Why would he?

If I had a coding job I could work a couple days a week remote? I'm not sure I'd ever retire either.

Re: Surgeon General says loneliness is driving US into anxiety and pessimism

#42

Post by hansonkd »

jaybhum wrote: post #2

"If I told you, 'I went into my backyard, I made this pill. It's amazing. It's free. If you take it, it'll actually improve your health, make you feel better, improve your performance at work, improve your grades, boost your immunity,' you'd be like, 'Sign me up. I'll take that tomorrow.'" It turns out that's what social connection is. Just a little connection can go a long way in keeping us healthy.

> It's free

Free in terms of monetary costs but not free in terms of absolute costs for example time and emotional depletion.

For some people they see social connections as more risks that they can possibly lose something and be hurt if things don't work out or they are rejected.

And in general social connections require some type of mutual benefit so it is necessary to "give" as you "get".

Then another layer are that social connections in general need a reason. Is it a club, hobby, job, etc. which takes time and energy.

These "costs" are not universal and vary from person to person.

All these things can be overcome, but it is also important to look at the other side because the reason that people prefer just buying a pill to fix their problems is that the above mentioned costs for them are greater than the price of alternatives like medication, social media, gaming, etc.

Re: Surgeon General says loneliness is driving US into anxiety and pessimism

#43

Post by vundercind »

nop_slide wrote: post #33
exprofmaddy wrote: post #15

Where do you go to meet real humans and have social interaction?

Our (the states) reliance on car central culture is killing us in more ways than one. I grew up in the suburbs and you could easily go a week without substantially interacting with people. Jump in your metal capsule, drive 7 mins to Walmart, walk quietly across the huge parking lot, get your item and return home. Contrasted with dense urban city with public transit, you will serendipitously bump into people and be fo…

And I feel like this could all come to no good

The kids who populate these cul-de-sacs will never know what stood

Beneath their cookie-cutter houses, fields and streams and woods

They'll sit in cars and wait for mom to drive them out of this boring neighborhood

- Defiance, Ohio; “Oh! Susquehanna”

Re: Surgeon General says loneliness is driving US into anxiety and pessimism

#44

Post by ChrisMarshallNY »

> Social Infrastructure

That's a term that I use, for the type of social structure that most societies have[0]. Bit different from what he's written.

It's not just a problem for young folks. Older folks are having huge problems with loneliness.

I won't speak to how it affects our physical well-being, but it sure does affect our mental well-being, and our mental health can definitely inform our physical health.

I'm always an advocate of engaging in volunteer or nonprofit work. It definitely has its issues, but does wonders for loneliness.

Most of the folks that hang out here, have extremely valuable skills, that could do wonders for NPOs.

[0] https://littlegreenviper.com/infrastructure/#social_inf

Re: Surgeon General says loneliness is driving US into anxiety and pessimism

#46

Post by dgfitz »

bluefirebrand wrote: post #14
Salmonfisher11 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Theoretically yes. Practically almost all people got highly manipulated into having no hobby's or interests in their free time. They will find no use for a 4 day week not will they see any advantages.

I think many people simply cannot afford to have hobbies or interests An astonishing number of people live paycheck to paycheck and basically any hobby costs at least some money

If you had to guess, how much of that time is used on social media apps?

Even playing videogames is a better hobby than doom-scrolling, or going for a walk/run, that's free. Maybe reading a book? I have friends who plow through 2-3 books a week, all from the local library. Cooking?

I don't think people are as poor as you indicate. Everyone just takes their gramme of soma whenever they can.

Re: Surgeon General says loneliness is driving US into anxiety and pessimism

#47

Post by fidotron »

bluefirebrand wrote: post #14
Salmonfisher11 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Theoretically yes. Practically almost all people got highly manipulated into having no hobby's or interests in their free time. They will find no use for a 4 day week not will they see any advantages.

I think many people simply cannot afford to have hobbies or interests An astonishing number of people live paycheck to paycheck and basically any hobby costs at least some money

Yeah and this is a relatively recent development.

I did my amateur radio license in Canada about 15 years ago, which involves also getting to know the older members of the local radio club. Their attitudes were quite incredible - very normal working class dudes with tens of thousands a year to spend on any serious hobby. (Like spending thousands on amplifiers, then thousands shipping them to pacific islands and up mountains etc.) They would also have cottages with arrays of recreational vehicles of different sorts and so on.

You can also see this in the pinball community as there is an age boundary when it drops off entirely.

It is amazing how quickly the normal expected standard of life in north america has taken a nosedive while the property values have exploded. Europe is even worse.

Re: Surgeon General says loneliness is driving US into anxiety and pessimism

#48

Post by vundercind »

SSLy wrote: post #25
exprofmaddy wrote: post #15

Where do you go to meet real humans and have social interaction?

Pub quiz meetings, art galleries, film festivals.

Literally pick any half-organized activity. They’ll be posted all over the Web (sorry, you will probably need a Facebook account), your city’s website may have lists of organizations, and there are probably some fliers posted at the library (and the library may run a few gatherings themselves!)

Re: Surgeon General says loneliness is driving US into anxiety and pessimism

#49

Post by SketchySeaBeast »

dtquad wrote: post #24
exprofmaddy wrote: post #15

Where do you go to meet real humans and have social interaction?

Both X and Bluesky are surprisingly pleasant places if you mute/block political keywords and accounts.

Bluesky notably having powerful blocklists.

Re: Surgeon General says loneliness is driving US into anxiety and pessimism

#50

Post by potato3732842 »

nop_slide wrote: post #33
exprofmaddy wrote: post #15

Where do you go to meet real humans and have social interaction?

Our (the states) reliance on car central culture is killing us in more ways than one. I grew up in the suburbs and you could easily go a week without substantially interacting with people. Jump in your metal capsule, drive 7 mins to Walmart, walk quietly across the huge parking lot, get your item and return home. Contrasted with dense urban city with public transit, you will serendipitously bump into people and be fo…

I assure you that living in the city you can easily go about your business for a week or more without talking to anyone if you so choose. People who don't know each other don't interact with each other in the city.
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