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Ventilen, a Danish organization to address loneliness in young people

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Re: Ventilen, a Danish organization to address loneliness in young people

#31

Post by vmarius »

krageon wrote: post #28
vmarius wrote: post #6

It is better than nothing, but is not scalable. We at nothing_here building a tool which will help fight loneliness online. (I have removed the link, not really trying to sell anything to anyone)

A social circle does not scale to begin with. Rather than introducing something very close to a buzzword and presenting an alternative which aims to (as you claim) solve a similar problem, perhaps you can tell the reader why you think scalability is important and what makes you think that you can solve loneliness at scale where every other large-scale online community has (I think pretty obviously) failed. Improving…

Krageon, I've removed any mention of the service I am building and left more answers related to your message => https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20360002#20360713

Re: Ventilen, a Danish organization to address loneliness in young people

#33

Post by krageon »

vmarius wrote: post #31
krageon wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A social circle does not scale to begin with. Rather than introducing something very close to a buzzword and presenting an alternative which aims to (as you claim) solve a similar problem, perhaps you can tell the reader why you think scalability is important and what makes you think that you can solve loneliness at scale where every other large-scale online community has (I think pretty obviously) failed. Improving…

Krageon, I've removed any mention of the service I am building and left more answers related to your message => https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20360002#20360713

I appreciate that you took the time to do so, not everyone does.

Re: Ventilen, a Danish organization to address loneliness in young people

#35

Post by Razengan »

zx321 wrote: post #21
dijit wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For some of us IRC never went away. It’s my primary social outlet, and I’m closing in on 30. Maybe I’m a bit special as I moved countries a fair bit in my 20s, and making friends in adulthood is difficult. Shameless plug; if you want to join us (we are roughly 400 people) then the network is ircs://irc.drk.sc:6697/#darkscience

Please be careful! Posting links to these kind of small communities on much larger ones has a way of diluting what makes them so great in the first place - or at least severely irritating the regulars.

I understand where you're coming from, but the concept of "regulars" is one of the things that can hinder newcomers from fitting in, adding to the loneliness and isolation epidemic.

Feeling like an outsider is hard to overcome and requires effort from both parties, but it's better if a community does not make a distinction between "outsiders/newbies" versus "regulars" to begin with.

Re: Ventilen, a Danish organization to address loneliness in young people

#37

Post by zwaps »

vmarius wrote: post #30
zwaps wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good on you, but i think chat apps are not the solution. For physical and mental health, we need real face to face connections, in person and not online. Young people use many chat apps and even topic based groups and sites, set depression and health problems keep increasing. The more we are in front of a screen, the harder it is to actually be with others. And this is what we need as humans.

I agree that real face to face connection is the best for many cases, but is a luxury nowadays and doesn't work for all.

Yeah and this group tries to make it less of a luxury and more of a regular thing. Thats is what we should strive for.

I really do think that our body has a different physical reaction to being close with others. We are monkeys, basically. Lonely monkeys dont do well.

Re: Ventilen, a Danish organization to address loneliness in young people

#38

Post by kjaftaedi »

Copenjin wrote: post #32
cybersnowflake wrote: post #7

loneliness is a much bigger problem for older people. why not start there?

I find the fact that you got downvoted and the subdued scorn of some of the replies you got quite "amusing".

Gatekeeping loneliness is hardly constructive.

Suggesting people start by solving larger problems before smaller ones is equally not constructive.

Why focus on loneliness at all when you can tackle climate change instead?

Re: Ventilen, a Danish organization to address loneliness in young people

#39

Post by zwaps »

vmarius wrote: post #27
AstralStorm wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1) Not always possible? Attack the reason why. It's often either work or study, which can be changed given enough political pressure, or kids, which sometimes can be included, sometimes not 2) Undesirable? Please elaborate. 3) Transportation widens local for the rich to a wide area for few day trips, which is a scheduling problem. For a day trip, mark a circle with 8h travel diameter. It is relatively far, yet here w…

1) physically impossible - large distances, time consuming, fear 2) it is hard to discuss many (if not most) personal issues in personal or in group meetings. Suicidal thoughts, depression, life advice - you cannot simply go out there and discuss all these during your first/tenth meeting with a person in private.

You probably want to emphasize what you bring to the table, and de emphasize what other approaches are not.

This discussion started not because your product idea is bad, but rather because your pitch included trying to tell us that what this Danish group has been doing is not scalable, even though they are doing it since decades with great success. This felt like saying it is somehow the wrong approach.

I think you can add to society with such a chat app, but there is a lot of indication that quality personal interaction is superior, and there are many many groups, even anonymous consulting etc, who have tackled these issues for decades! That clearly is scale, look at AA.

For example, one may also say that non anonymous and close connections, the opposite of what you offer in your app, is precisely the point of this Danish initiative, and your app really targets different issues. In that view, your comment seemed rather flippant. When pitching your app, you probably avoid seeming ignorant of the actual issue at stake.

Best of luck to you

Re: Ventilen, a Danish organization to address loneliness in young people

#40

Post by jacobush »

Svip wrote: post #12
jmartinpetersen wrote: post #3

Ventilen, or “friend to one” in Danish, That's an unusual translation. A more obvious would be "valve" or just "vent". - Edit after coffee: "Ven til en" actually means "friend of one". Amazing how faulty pattern recognition can lead you astray.

I think a more appropriate translation would be 'friend for one', as it can be read as an offer. »Ven til en« is obviously an unusual way of phrasing it, but replace »ven« with any commodity you can purchase, then it sounds more like an offer (a free one, that is). That being said, 'friend of one' is definitely an accurate translation as well. And 'friend to one' is just the literal translation. I wonder how they pro…

Ok I'm Swedish, but my reading is "friend of someone" combined with "friend of you". It's hard to explain but it holds these 2 meanings very closely.

Plus the pun of "valve" in the same word, which is also fitting, for letting out steam.

Besides it sounds great in English. Sounds like a new expensive drug. Imagine the TV commercial: "Contact your doctor to learn if Ventilen is for you. May cause hair loss, liver failure and bla bla bla. "

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