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Living Alone May Be Hazardous to Your Health

blogs.smithsonianmag.com

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Re: Living Alone May Be Hazardous to Your Health

#11

Post by OGinparadise »

themgt wrote: post #4

It's pretty obvious being isolated from real social and physical connection with other humans tends to have a severely negative impact on people's mental and physical health. It's really sad how America has built itself into a lonelier and lonelier society over the past decades.

It's really sad how America has built itself into a lonelier and lonelier society over the past decades.

But we have a second car and only $18k in credit card debt.

The same thing is happening to societies that are experiencing urbanization. Not sure for how long this can go on...or what happened next.

Re: Living Alone May Be Hazardous to Your Health

#13

Post by jlgreco »

sultezdukes wrote: post #6
themgt wrote: post #4

It's pretty obvious being isolated from real social and physical connection with other humans tends to have a severely negative impact on people's mental and physical health. It's really sad how America has built itself into a lonelier and lonelier society over the past decades.

It's pretty obvious being isolated from real social and physical connection with other humans tends to have a severely negative impact on people's mental and physical health No, it's not obvious. It's really sad how America has built itself into a lonelier and lonelier society over the past decades. That's just your experience.

> No, it's not obvious.

Agreed. In fact, I would expect the opposite. Living by myself allows me to precisely meter how much time I spend with others and how much time I spend alone. If I want some human contact at the moment, then I go out and get some. If I don't, then I go home. The only way that this breaks down is if the amount of time I want to spend with other people is somehow detrimental to my health.

Can I maintain this when all of my friends start getting married is another question...

Re: Living Alone May Be Hazardous to Your Health

#15

Post by dman »

jlgreco wrote: post #13
sultezdukes wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's pretty obvious being isolated from real social and physical connection with other humans tends to have a severely negative impact on people's mental and physical health No, it's not obvious. It's really sad how America has built itself into a lonelier and lonelier society over the past decades. That's just your experience.

> No, it's not obvious. Agreed. In fact, I would expect the opposite. Living by myself allows me to precisely meter how much time I spend with others and how much time I spend alone. If I want some human contact at the moment, then I go out and get some. If I don't, then I go home. The only way that this breaks down is if the amount of time I want to spend with other people is somehow detrimental to my health. Can I…

Wait till your friends start having children :)

Re: Living Alone May Be Hazardous to Your Health

#17

Post by jlgreco »

dman wrote: post #15
jlgreco wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> No, it's not obvious. Agreed. In fact, I would expect the opposite. Living by myself allows me to precisely meter how much time I spend with others and how much time I spend alone. If I want some human contact at the moment, then I go out and get some. If I don't, then I go home. The only way that this breaks down is if the amount of time I want to spend with other people is somehow detrimental to my health. Can I…

Wait till your friends start having children :)

Aye. That will likely involve a lifestyle shift for me, but I figure I probably have a few more years until I have to worry about that.

Re: Living Alone May Be Hazardous to Your Health

#18

Post by gems »

coldtea wrote: post #7
ExpiredLink wrote: post #2

Correlation is not causation. Again.

And wanting explanations (much less doubting them) for the obvious is neither science nor wisdom.

It's obvious that things fall towards the center of the earth. Yet, you have hordes of physicists searching for a mathematical reason for why it happens. The point here is that nobody cares whether or not 'it is obvious' to you. Lots of things are obvious to lots of people and most of those things turn out to be false. Only rigorous justification advances our knowledge. You would know all of this if you weren't a complete ignoramus.

Re: Living Alone May Be Hazardous to Your Health

#19

Post by themgt »

OGinparadise wrote: post #11
themgt wrote: post #4

It's pretty obvious being isolated from real social and physical connection with other humans tends to have a severely negative impact on people's mental and physical health. It's really sad how America has built itself into a lonelier and lonelier society over the past decades.

It's really sad how America has built itself into a lonelier and lonelier society over the past decades. But we have a second car and only $18k in credit card debt. The same thing is happening to societies that are experiencing urbanization. Not sure for how long this can go on...or what happened next.

Except it's not at all due to urbanization. I would say it's more due (in part - the causality goes both ways) to the suburbanization in which the American ideal became to live in a big empty houses in the middle of nowhere with giant flat empty stretches of grass between you and other people.

Young urban Americans are some of the few attempting to buck this trend, which the boomers heartily embraced.

Why Americans were choosing to get away from each other when say, their counterparts in western european haven't been, and aren't living anywhere near such isolated, unhealthy lives, is a question worth asking.

Re: Living Alone May Be Hazardous to Your Health

#20

Post by themgt »

sultezdukes wrote: post #6
themgt wrote: post #4

It's pretty obvious being isolated from real social and physical connection with other humans tends to have a severely negative impact on people's mental and physical health. It's really sad how America has built itself into a lonelier and lonelier society over the past decades.

It's pretty obvious being isolated from real social and physical connection with other humans tends to have a severely negative impact on people's mental and physical health No, it's not obvious. It's really sad how America has built itself into a lonelier and lonelier society over the past decades. That's just your experience.

No, it's not obvious.

Is this the monty python argument room? There's a vast amount of research into the negative effects of social isolation on humans and other mammals. Did you have something to add regarding this study, which is just one more drop in that huge bucket?

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