South Korea's middle aged men are dying 'lonely deaths' • Hacker News Board

Re: South Korea's middle aged men are dying 'lonely deaths'

#61

Post by pastacacioepepe » Sat, Dec 31, 2022, 4:23 PM UTC

ajmurmann wrote: post #16

seydor wrote: post #2

This is a situation that will affect too many men worldwide as they are more likely to live single / be childless. The solution is to have communities or networks of people built explitictly around the idea of caring for others.

I wonder how these might look. Building relationships is really hard and ultimately that's what's needed. To build relationships, you need repeated exposure and need to overcome an initial barrier of familiarity to get to the point where you can have meaningful interactions and not just smalltalk. Given men are also bad at maintaining relationships, I wonder if something like different, more communal living arrangeme…

We've lived communally for a long time and across many different cultures and ethnicities. You just have to look at the past to know how that would look.

Any barrier you might see right now is the consequence of the cultural switch to individualism, and that again is a direct consequence of the transition to market based economies.

Re: South Korea's middle aged men are dying 'lonely deaths'

#62

Post by woodruffw » Sat, Dec 31, 2022, 4:24 PM UTC

leeroyjenkins11 wrote: post #24

tshaddox wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are some examples of proposed solutions that the progressive left would oppose?

Encouraging people to marry and have committed monogamous relationships. Create a stigma to encourage people to only have sex inside of committed marriage relationships so when they get older the have a lasting relationship with someone. Also it's would help killing the sex trade as a young man will pe willing to pay for it via websites or in person, but don't form those long term relationships before it's too late.

None of these things stop anyone (including men) from dying alone.

Stigmatization itself is the root of the problem here: lonely people, and particular men, do not want to admit that they are lonely.

Re: South Korea's middle aged men are dying 'lonely deaths'

#63

Post by pedro2 » Sat, Dec 31, 2022, 4:24 PM UTC

I don't understand what the fuss is all about. Neoliberalism baby, the market will solve it.

Re: South Korea's middle aged men are dying 'lonely deaths'

#64

Post by Apocryphon » Sat, Dec 31, 2022, 4:24 PM UTC

gedy wrote: post #31

orwin wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, yes, but there is 108 male for 100 female at birth, what does it solve? And do you want to force those 100 female to each marry a guy, even if they don't want to?

That's what I'm getting at with unique circumstances. And of course there is a wide spectrum between forced marriage and encouraging.

You know what would help encourage that? Widespread affordable home ownership and debt relief. Yet that is a problem from west to east.

Re: South Korea's middle aged men are dying 'lonely deaths'

#65

Post by blippage » Sat, Dec 31, 2022, 4:25 PM UTC

scotty79 wrote: post #6

I'm a middle aged man living alone. My plan for when I need to die is to buy top loaded freezer and prepay my electric bill to give people at least few years to find my body, keeping the process as easy, for the unfortunates who do, and as clean as possible.

If you think people don't care if you live or die, try missing a few car payments -- Woody Allen.

Re: South Korea's middle aged men are dying 'lonely deaths'

#66

Post by cjbgkagh » Sat, Dec 31, 2022, 4:25 PM UTC

Mistletoe wrote: post #41

cornstalks wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They plan on taking their “long nap” in a chest freezer, with electrical bills prepaid so the freezer (hopefully) doesn’t lose power before someone finds their frozen body.

But like how would one know they are going to die and crawl in? That sounds impossible and/or extremely painful. You could die 20 years ahead of time this way. A better solution seems to be something like a Fitbit or Apple Watch with a dead man’s switch feature that calls in every day. But honestly this all seems like an absurd thing to worry about.

I’m pretty sure there is one reliable way to predict one’s death, and I figure that’s the insinuation here. You’d need to be sure that someone would come looking for you before the power runs out otherwise it just a delay. My plan is to take increasingly death defying risks until my number comes up, that or paddle out into the ocean with a boat full of home made explosives.

Re: South Korea's middle aged men are dying 'lonely deaths'

#67

Post by Mistletoe » Sat, Dec 31, 2022, 4:26 PM UTC

lordnacho wrote: post #53

Mistletoe wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But like how would one know they are going to die and crawl in? That sounds impossible and/or extremely painful. You could die 20 years ahead of time this way. A better solution seems to be something like a Fitbit or Apple Watch with a dead man’s switch feature that calls in every day. But honestly this all seems like an absurd thing to worry about.

Hook up an apple watch or similar device to you while you live in the freezer that isn't turned on. Perhaps you just sleep in it. API call triggers if you die and it turns on, sends money to your utility provider from your bank.

Oh I definitely do not trust technology enough for that. Blue screen of death comes to mind. :)

Sometimes I wonder if the whole generation that experienced how bad Windows could be has a healthy dose of skepticism for technology. Younger people that have had phones that are much more reliable (and locked down) seem to be the ones I can imagine sleeping in a Tesla with the FSD on.

Re: South Korea's middle aged men are dying 'lonely deaths'

#68

Post by rpastuszak » Sat, Dec 31, 2022, 4:26 PM UTC

nibbleshifter wrote: post #55

abosherid wrote: post #36

Religion has many positive benefits on society. We minister to those within our own congregation and are aware of individuals needs. A sense of community is fostered and people are concerned about more than themselves. Perhaps the pendulum will swing back to people discovering religion?

The same argument can be made for becoming a regular at a bar, lol.

Or a volunteer. The issue with communities based on a religion is that they often tend to be exclusionary towards those who might live in the same area but not share the same beliefs. There are better ways and those don't require religion.

Re: South Korea's middle aged men are dying 'lonely deaths'

#69

Post by stevehawk » Sat, Dec 31, 2022, 4:26 PM UTC

nibbleshifter wrote: post #55

abosherid wrote: post #36

Religion has many positive benefits on society. We minister to those within our own congregation and are aware of individuals needs. A sense of community is fostered and people are concerned about more than themselves. Perhaps the pendulum will swing back to people discovering religion?

The same argument can be made for becoming a regular at a bar, lol.

except at the bar I'm only pretending to hate the drunk with different opinions from me.

Re: South Korea's middle aged men are dying 'lonely deaths'

#70

Post by jason-phillips » Sat, Dec 31, 2022, 4:26 PM UTC

heavenlyblue wrote: post #21

scotty79 wrote: post #6

I'm a middle aged man living alone. My plan for when I need to die is to buy top loaded freezer and prepay my electric bill to give people at least few years to find my body, keeping the process as easy, for the unfortunates who do, and as clean as possible.

Why not join a reading club instead?

Or learn to ride motorcycles?