How to Make Billions of Dollars Reducing Loneliness • Hacker News Board

Re: How to Make Billions of Dollars Reducing Loneliness

#41

Post by freddie_mercury » Sat, Aug 31, 2019, 8:53 PM UTC

strikelaserclaw wrote: post #8

shadowmore wrote: post #5

"Without the framework of a uniting religion, ethnicity, or purpose, it's hard to get people to truly commit to a given community." Points out that multiculturalism is destroying our civilization. Then goes on to brainstorm completely irrelevant solutions, as if the idea of simply restoring proper homogeneity is just forbidden by a higher power.

Loneliness seems to be a common thread even in homogenous first world countries like Japan. I think the modern way of people moving all the world for economic opportunity, and the much greater emphasis on "work" probably contributes far more to loneliness than multiculturalism.

Like all problems in the real world, I doubt there is a single, simple explanation like that.

Other factors that I imagine contribute: the rise of social programs (e.g. Social Security) mean that families aren't responsible for elder care anymore.

Young people are encouraged to leave the house asap after graduating high school. Failure to do so is seen to reflect poorly on the person and their parents.

Even among middle and low income earners, sharing households is less common in the past.

The rise of extreme parenting and related reduction in parental friendships.

The housing wealth of previous generations allowing them to sell a house in Boston and relocate to Phoenix, putting grandparents thousands of miles away from their children.

The rise of both spouses working meaning the non-working spouse can't lean on the social networks of the stay at home spouse.

Widespread air conditioning leading to death of outdoor neighborhood life (e.g. sitting on the porch)

The rise of college education and the increase in going to school further from home. (As recently as the 1970s over 55% of Stanford's students came from California.)

Those are just a few off the top of my head. I don't disagree that moving for work plays a role but back in the 1930s lots of people moved around the US for work (more than today) and work was far more all consuming (having only 2 days off the entire year was not uncommon, e.g. working every weekend, no breaks). And loneliness appears to have been less prevalent then than now.

Re: How to Make Billions of Dollars Reducing Loneliness

#42

Post by icebraining » Sat, Aug 31, 2019, 8:55 PM UTC

jrumbut wrote: post #22

Something that goes unquestioned in this article is that you want to live with people who are like you down to the same taste in video games. I find this not to be true for me, and that I find it easiest to live with people that are different enough that you end up needing to use kindness to relate to each other. After having felt isolated in my previous living situations, I'm now in a complex where we all hang out i…

I don't think the article is saying that everyone must match to that level of specifiety, or that your preferences must match your own characteristics. I'm sure some people would try to find people just like them, but you could just list your "must haves", or even exclude people like you.

A good example is OKC (the dating site), which asks you a bunch of questions, and then lets you choose one or more "acceptable" answers, and how strongly you feel about that. You can choose to accept all answers for most questions, or to say the other person must answer exactly one way, it's up to the user.

Re: How to Make Billions of Dollars Reducing Loneliness

#43

Post by hackbinary » Sat, Aug 31, 2019, 8:56 PM UTC

Start dancing. I started swing and jazz dancing a couple of years ago. The community is awesome, and you get to meet loads of people. There are regular events all over the world.

Re: How to Make Billions of Dollars Reducing Loneliness

#44

Post by icebraining » Sat, Aug 31, 2019, 9:00 PM UTC

donretag wrote: post #29

spookybones wrote: post #9

A simple solution would seem to be an OKCupid clone that is strictly for friends and perhaps another for roommates. It is very good at aligning mutual interests and proximity and giving a sense of personalities. I see a large untapped market for older people as well. Unlike RL, you know going in that anyone on there is looking for companionship, which considerably reduces awkwardness.

Bumble has a BFF feature.

OKC itself lets you say you're only looking for friends. Whether that discourages creeps is anyone's guess.

Re: How to Make Billions of Dollars Reducing Loneliness

#45

Post by izzydata » Sat, Aug 31, 2019, 9:08 PM UTC

petercooper wrote: post #39

I'm only slightly facetious here, but Twitch and the video gaming industry are already making billions reducing loneliness.. :-)

I'd like to suggest that they are making it worse. We used to play games together on the couch, but now we can be alone in our houses watching strangers instead. Social media in general is making us all more lonely while tricking us into thinking we are interacting with others.

Re: How to Make Billions of Dollars Reducing Loneliness

#46

Post by watwut » Sat, Aug 31, 2019, 9:08 PM UTC

mcguire wrote: post #21

" ...especially in the Bay Area. ... But there's a palpable lack of social fabric. I worry that this atomization is becoming a world-wide phenomenon – that we might be some of the first generations without the sort of community that it's in human nature to rely on. " Are we talking about a general problem, or about a group of 20-somethings who grew up with families, went to college where they had a lot of free time w…

This was downvoted a lot, but I think there is something on it. The same value system that makes you see life outside of work as being lazy, prefers short term relationships and generally praise following own interests has higher chance of leaving you without close friends and community in the long term.

and it is also true that lonely poor or sick people or those caring about such relatives can be extremely lonely and isolated too, but with harder or non existent solutions.

Re: How to Make Billions of Dollars Reducing Loneliness

#47

Post by ScottFree » Sat, Aug 31, 2019, 9:29 PM UTC

Adult sport leagues. These are very common in Europe, but are fairly rare in the US.

Re: How to Make Billions of Dollars Reducing Loneliness

#48

Post by majewsky » Sat, Aug 31, 2019, 9:35 PM UTC

alexashka wrote: post #32

This is a way to scratch your left foot when your right foot itches. The way to alleviate loneliness, is to do meaningful work. Meaningful work will inevitably involve other people. It's not loneliness so much as being so fucking bored, because everything that took up your time in the past centuries, has now been automated, and you're sent to prison for 10+ years to break your spirit as early as 3 years old. You send…

Like so many comments on the internet, this would've been great if you had stopped one sentence earlier.

Re: How to Make Billions of Dollars Reducing Loneliness

#49

Post by astrofinch » Sat, Aug 31, 2019, 9:37 PM UTC

dahdum wrote: post #20

Roam.co is essentially out of business, but having spent several weeks in their Tokyo property it was a great experience. Always someone around to chat or eat with. Tokyo has a large number of Sharehouses built and managed by the full stack businesses the author mentions (along with smaller co-op styles). Roam Tokyo rented a floor of a sharehouse building which had regular tenants, coworking space, conference rooms,…

What issues did Roam.co run into?

Re: How to Make Billions of Dollars Reducing Loneliness

#50

Post by paulpauper » Sat, Aug 31, 2019, 9:37 PM UTC

It seems like there is an obsession with loneliness as of late. I keep seeing articles on the front page that talk about it. I guess it's a big problem now.