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The pandemic has deepened an epidemic of loneliness

mcc.gse.harvard.edu

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Re: The pandemic has deepened an epidemic of loneliness

#11

Post by naravara »

JKCalhoun wrote: post #10
jbrun wrote: post #4

It's a bit paradoxical. I have a tech company and most staff want to come to the office 1 day a week. Getting them to come is very tough. Many of my staff and friends don't want to have kids, make no effort to find a partner and find all sorts of excuses. Netflix, the internet and these things are part of the problem, but I have no clue what the solution is. There is only one way to not be lonely - be with people who…

All I can think: turn off the internet. Internet in the morning. Have your coffee, catch up on the news, your social. Then put the internet down for the rest of the day. Go out, ride a bike with a friend, go hike with a friend, go to a coffee shop, library....

Doesn’t this depend on having friends who are off the internet too?

In the before times, I’d go to get drinks with friends and often found they were chronically distracted. If there’s a lull in conversation they pull out their phones. I go to the bathroom and come back and they’re swiping through Tinder.

I got married before the dating apps got popular so I never went down that particular rabbit hole, but I feel like they’ve severely damaged people’s ability to pay attention to where they are and who they’re with.

Re: The pandemic has deepened an epidemic of loneliness

#13

Post by api »

kiwih wrote: post #8

The loneliness crisis is what I have been wondering about lately amongst the greater push (especially within tech circles) to 100% work-from-home arrangements. Personally, although I enjoy WFH once or twice a week, I know that for me I must go in the other three days or else I do start feeling chronically lonely - even though I live with my wife and another flatmate. One thing that I worry about is that one side effe…

The loneliness crisis long predates the acceleration of telework adoption during COVID, and the job has never been peoples' primary place for socializing.

Re: The pandemic has deepened an epidemic of loneliness

#14

Post by mrdoops »

jbrun wrote: post #4

It's a bit paradoxical. I have a tech company and most staff want to come to the office 1 day a week. Getting them to come is very tough. Many of my staff and friends don't want to have kids, make no effort to find a partner and find all sorts of excuses. Netflix, the internet and these things are part of the problem, but I have no clue what the solution is. There is only one way to not be lonely - be with people who…

They need stable, actionable futures. Homes they can afford to own, communities they can raise kids in, an environment that won't go up in flames; they need systems that have their back.

Re: The pandemic has deepened an epidemic of loneliness

#15

Post by anotherman554 »

mandmandam wrote: post #7

I had a hunch going in that the authors would fail to break down how much more lonely the poor have been compared to the wealthy. Sadly, I was correct. They really didn't mention wealth or inequality once. Class pervades every aspect of America's problems so deeply that it's almost invisible, but that is no excuse to ignore it. Especially when we're talking about Harvard research, and especially when we're talking ab…

Poor people are often forced to have roommates, live with their parents, or otherwise maintain relationships for economic reasons. I wouldn't expect poor people to necessarily be more lonely.

Re: The pandemic has deepened an epidemic of loneliness

#17

Post by newaccount2021 »

jbrun wrote: post #4

It's a bit paradoxical. I have a tech company and most staff want to come to the office 1 day a week. Getting them to come is very tough. Many of my staff and friends don't want to have kids, make no effort to find a partner and find all sorts of excuses. Netflix, the internet and these things are part of the problem, but I have no clue what the solution is. There is only one way to not be lonely - be with people who…

your employees will change their minds - when they are fifty and its too late. At fifty, people will have to accept that their successes are mostly in the rearview mirror, and since they likely won't be founding the next AI unicorn, they can finally accept their life and settle down. Problem is, they are now too old to build a family, and will have to settle for one-and-done online dating with others as equally desperate.

Re: The pandemic has deepened an epidemic of loneliness

#18

Post by omgwtfbbq »

jbrun wrote: post #4

It's a bit paradoxical. I have a tech company and most staff want to come to the office 1 day a week. Getting them to come is very tough. Many of my staff and friends don't want to have kids, make no effort to find a partner and find all sorts of excuses. Netflix, the internet and these things are part of the problem, but I have no clue what the solution is. There is only one way to not be lonely - be with people who…

[dead]

Re: The pandemic has deepened an epidemic of loneliness

#19

Post by treeman79 »

kiwih wrote: post #8

The loneliness crisis is what I have been wondering about lately amongst the greater push (especially within tech circles) to 100% work-from-home arrangements. Personally, although I enjoy WFH once or twice a week, I know that for me I must go in the other three days or else I do start feeling chronically lonely - even though I live with my wife and another flatmate. One thing that I worry about is that one side effe…

Did work from home for many years. Decided to back to office after I had mostly convinced myself that the people in zoom calls were just figments of my imagination.

Re: The pandemic has deepened an epidemic of loneliness

#20

Post by anoplus »

The long 2020 lock-downs taught me the importance of having a regular amount of social interactions, even at workplace. I have fairly limited social life. I actually reached a state where I felt my brain doesn't fire, like a car barely starting. Now I value any social life much more. I see it as nutrition.
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