Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Americans are choosing to be alone, but we should reverse that

washingtonpost.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 396 posts

Re: Americans are choosing to be alone, but we should reverse that

#11

Post by ilaksh »

A few thoughts:

1. The internet means we have many forms of entertainment available without needing to go anywhere.

2. Many of those are social activities, even though we are physically alone. This is completely different from being totally isolated (as implied by the article).

3. The declining economic situation affects the ability of people to pursue leisure activities that would involve actually going somewhere that we might meet up with others.

I believe that within a few years, comfortable AR and VR goggles and glasses will come out, and they will pick up mass adoption. This will lead to a huge increase in social activities, and they will be almost equivalent to truly being in person, especially once eye-tracking becomes popular. Virtual environments and AR teleportation using things like neural radiance fields will be quite realistic.

Re: Americans are choosing to be alone, but we should reverse that

#12

Post by vasco »

naikrovek wrote: post #5

the article doesn't seem attribute the desire to be alone to anything, other than saying that it got a lot more common during the pandemic, but I can say why I prefer to be alone: no judgement, no one makes fun of me, no one takes advantage of me, and no one steals from me. the one and only bad thing for me is that being lonely sucks. I am not lonely, but I probably will be in a decade's time. being alone adds up ove…

Hell is other people, heh? You're being downvoted for what I think is an obvious reason, but seeing as your comment says what it does, maybe you are not aware.

You cannot love without risking a heartbreak, and you cannot experience friendship without risking a betrayal or a slow drift apart. But a friendship or a love do not have to be defined by the fact that they end, or how they end, and instead appreciated by the good moments they provide you. Your life will also end, and it is not a waste because of that, it is still worth living, so I'd encourage you to be more trustworthy and enjoy the ride a bit more.

Re: Americans are choosing to be alone, but we should reverse that

#13

Post by naikrovek »

mym1990 wrote: post #8
naikrovek wrote: post #5

the article doesn't seem attribute the desire to be alone to anything, other than saying that it got a lot more common during the pandemic, but I can say why I prefer to be alone: no judgement, no one makes fun of me, no one takes advantage of me, and no one steals from me. the one and only bad thing for me is that being lonely sucks. I am not lonely, but I probably will be in a decade's time. being alone adds up ove…

Why do you anticipate you will be lonely in a decade's time(but not currently)? And do you think you are a toxin based on your observation of the general species?

unfortunately, humans are a social species and the toll of being alone adds up over time. I try to avoid people so that I don't darken their day and they don't darken mine. I consider staying away from others a very small gift to them.

people are mean, selfish assholes and are by default competitive and adversarial, by nature.

we are a doomed species, and are unworthy of existence, in my opinion.

Re: Americans are choosing to be alone, but we should reverse that

#16

Post by naikrovek »

zoklet-enjoyer wrote: post #10
naikrovek wrote: post #5

the article doesn't seem attribute the desire to be alone to anything, other than saying that it got a lot more common during the pandemic, but I can say why I prefer to be alone: no judgement, no one makes fun of me, no one takes advantage of me, and no one steals from me. the one and only bad thing for me is that being lonely sucks. I am not lonely, but I probably will be in a decade's time. being alone adds up ove…

That is not a good world view. I imagine you've been through a lot to get to the point where you feel like that. Have you tried finding a friend group that has a mutual hobby to bond over?

it is an accurate world view, in my experience. friends and partners are in no way worth it. I lose every time and the pain is too much.

how everyone does it is unknown to me. life isn't just hell, it's torture. noting gained and constant emotional pain.

Re: Americans are choosing to be alone, but we should reverse that

#17

Post by fdhfdjkfhdkj »

mym1990 wrote: post #6

There is absolutely no problem with spending time alone, I believe more people should move towards a place where being alone isn't anxiety inducing(easier said than done). Taking a walk alone(no headphones, just your thoughts), spending a couple hours reading a book, going to a restaurant and having a meal by yourself, working on a passion project...these things can be really liberating! Instead our collective alone…

No post body was provided.

Re: Americans are choosing to be alone, but we should reverse that

#19

Post by altacc »

There's been a lot of talk recently about effects of loneliness and the "loneliness epidemic". What a lot of this lacks, including this article, is a good and correct definition of loneliness. They seem to use the lazy & inaccurate definition of "spending significant time alone", which is very different to being lonely. There's a lot of people who are now able to spend more time alone than before and are happy with that.

Some of the academics I've heard discussing this define loneliness as when a person's social interactions are significantly less than their desired amount of social interactions. It's an individual's perception, not measured time. That seems like a much better measurement as it takes into account human variability.

Post reply on HN