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Life of solitude: A loneliness crisis is looming

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Re: Life of solitude: A loneliness crisis is looming

#121
This is a big reason why we created http://happen.io. Facebook mimics real-world connections and puts them in cyberspace, but studies show it makes people feel more isolated. We wanted to create something for people to improve their real-world connections, not just their digital connections.

Happen.io makes it so that individuals can add their own events (like parties, celebrations, nights-out, family get togethers, club meetings, block parties, etc) and post them for others to find and save in their own list. Events can be public or private, for a group or not. It's mobile optimized so that people can use it on the go, not cooped up in their apartment.

It doesn't take much to feel a sense of connection. I think it really just takes a few good friends and a few groups to feel a part of. But a lot of people are missing that, and sites like Facebook and others sometimes turn into a place to show off how great their life is, not a way to meet new people or find real activities to do with others.

Why can't there be a place that just shows you things going on near you that others are invited to? With all this tech to connect people, how come people 100 yards away from each other never meet or get to know each other? How come it's so hard to find something to do or people to be with outside a list of your facebook friends? Why isn't there a place for an regular person to post their activities and events so that other regular people can find them and make new friends?

That's what we are trying to make happen at happen.io. It's sort of a long-tail event platform. There's already eventbrite for ticketed events, but this is for any event, including small get-togethers. And there's facebook and other event sites that use facebook's social graph, but that makes it so you only see events of your friends, not just whatever may interest you regardless of who set up the event.

It really is a disappointment in this digital world we become more connected to devices but less connected to each other. We need to turn that around.

Re: Life of solitude: A loneliness crisis is looming

#122

So what can we do to fix this? I mean, we're hackers, right? We build things that solve problems. What can we build to solve this problem? Some initial thoughts: 1) Personally, I've observed that video chat comes a lot closer to genuine human contact than anything else digital. Better video chat technology would be useful. Also, ChatRoulette but not terrible? 2) Infoproducts - perhaps it's time for an update of "How…

Creating an ad system where you post what you can offer to do and what you want, like an offer and demand system, and allow to search by location.

Orient this on activities and jobs, and allow people to post their interests so that people can find people that have the same interests in the area. You'd only need to ask users what they want to share, and disallow for people to search beyond their area.

Re: Life of solitude: A loneliness crisis is looming

#123
post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I read it recently, and found it to be Atlas Shrugged for 5-year-olds. The only point of the story is to say: "YOU, the reader, being a child, are so much better and smarter than all these grown-up sheeple!!" All told, I like the version at the end of this page[1] much better. [1] http://the-toast.net/2013/08/02/texts-from-peter-pan-et-al/

The book is largely aimed at adults, I believe. The message is "you, the reader (and I, the author): remember that you were once a child. Remember what you've forgotten. Don't be like those I have criticized here. Live".

Are you speaking of "Thus Spoke Zarathustra"?

Re: Life of solitude: A loneliness crisis is looming

#125

So what can we do to fix this? I mean, we're hackers, right? We build things that solve problems. What can we build to solve this problem? Some initial thoughts: 1) Personally, I've observed that video chat comes a lot closer to genuine human contact than anything else digital. Better video chat technology would be useful. Also, ChatRoulette but not terrible? 2) Infoproducts - perhaps it's time for an update of "How…

I wish more hackers would understand that you don't fix sociological problems with technology.

Re: Life of solitude: A loneliness crisis is looming

#126
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's "The Little Prince". Definitely worth a read!

I read it recently, and found it to be Atlas Shrugged for 5-year-olds. The only point of the story is to say: "YOU, the reader, being a child, are so much better and smarter than all these grown-up sheeple!!" All told, I like the version at the end of this page[1] much better. [1] http://the-toast.net/2013/08/02/texts-from-peter-pan-et-al/

You're going to miss out on a lot of good things in life if you persist with this hyper-cynical attitude. How you managed to arrive at such a twisted misinterpretation is baffling, but it's a comment on you, not the book.

Re: Life of solitude: A loneliness crisis is looming

#127
post #33

this applies to me. I'm very alone pretty much most of the time. Not really had friends and not great at making them. For the last 11 months I've tried going out and being the most positive person I can, to be a friend to as many people as I can but I don't know if it's working or not. Just talking to people, listening to them, smiling at everyone. It feels like I'm just a grinning idiot, that no one takes me serious…

Please do just one thing: make an appointment with a therapist to see if you have depression.

[deleted]

Re: Life of solitude: A loneliness crisis is looming

#128

So what can we do to fix this? I mean, we're hackers, right? We build things that solve problems. What can we build to solve this problem? Some initial thoughts: 1) Personally, I've observed that video chat comes a lot closer to genuine human contact than anything else digital. Better video chat technology would be useful. Also, ChatRoulette but not terrible? 2) Infoproducts - perhaps it's time for an update of "How…

I wish more hackers would understand that you don't fix sociological problems with technology.

1) The Pill. The washing machine. The various reductions in mortality in childhood and childbirth. And hundreds more.

Technology and society are inextricably linked. Democracy, for example, is significantly enabled by technology, as is the liberation of women from servitude.

2) I said "can we fix this?". I didn't say anything about using technology to do it.

For example, my original point #2 - a book ain't exactly a technological advancement at this point, but it might be one of the things that would help most.

Re: Life of solitude: A loneliness crisis is looming

#129
post #122

So what can we do to fix this? I mean, we're hackers, right? We build things that solve problems. What can we build to solve this problem? Some initial thoughts: 1) Personally, I've observed that video chat comes a lot closer to genuine human contact than anything else digital. Better video chat technology would be useful. Also, ChatRoulette but not terrible? 2) Infoproducts - perhaps it's time for an update of "How…

Creating an ad system where you post what you can offer to do and what you want, like an offer and demand system, and allow to search by location. Orient this on activities and jobs, and allow people to post their interests so that people can find people that have the same interests in the area. You'd only need to ask users what they want to share, and disallow for people to search beyond their area.

I think this has been tried, although I can't remember the name of it off the top of my head.

It'd be really interesting to find out why it didn't work well.

Re: Life of solitude: A loneliness crisis is looming

#130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I read it recently, and found it to be Atlas Shrugged for 5-year-olds. The only point of the story is to say: "YOU, the reader, being a child, are so much better and smarter than all these grown-up sheeple!!" All told, I like the version at the end of this page[1] much better. [1] http://the-toast.net/2013/08/02/texts-from-peter-pan-et-al/

>The only point of the story is to say: "YOU, the reader, being a child, are so much better and smarter than all these grown-up sheeple!!" I'm 24 and it's still true. Being an adult is being able to handle responsibilities and take care of yourself in the world. Being a grown-up is being a prig whose soul died years ago.

I think sometimes it is hard to understand people who are just in a different place to us. We have values, and those change over time, and they reflect the values of society, which change over time. Is someone living true to their values so bad?
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