Capitalism and convenience are making us lonely
1–10 of 16 posts
Re: Capitalism and convenience are making us lonely
#2Being social nowadays is like exercise - it not longer naturally happens frequently in our lives and so we have to consciously choose to do it. Also like exercise, it seems impossible when you start and takes months of effort to really feel comfortable about it.
Given only ~25% of the US population exercises regularly, this bodes poorly for actively being social. I suspect we need to "artificially" engineer living conditions to push people together naturally.
Re: Capitalism and convenience are making us lonely
#3[flagged]
Re: Capitalism and convenience are making us lonely
#4If having friends and community is truly valuable to people then there is a huge business opportunity to provide that value. What I'm hearing instead is that folks are complaining that something doesn't exist and then not being willing to pay for it. If you're not willing to pay for something then it's not really that valuable at the end of the day.
Re: Capitalism and convenience are making us lonely
#5[flagged]
I don't think the article, despite the title, is suggesting we look for an alternative to capitalism and make everything slower or less convenient. It's just observing a consequence without passing judgement and then saying that now more deliberate effort needs to be made to make human connections.
Re: Capitalism and convenience are making us lonely
#6If having friends and community is truly valuable to people then there is a huge business opportunity to provide that value. What I'm hearing instead is that folks are complaining that something doesn't exist and then not being willing to pay for it. If you're not willing to pay for something then it's not really that valuable at the end of the day.
Community doesn't commodify well because it doesn't scale. You can't hire 100 more workers to produce 1000 more communities every day, so there really is no ability to sell it. It's basically the only thing you legitimately can't pay for, you have to "earn" community by being actively involved with many people over the span of multiple years, nothing else will produce the right neurochemical response of safety in people's minds.
Re: Capitalism and convenience are making us lonely
#7Being social nowadays is like exercise - it not longer naturally happens frequently in our lives and so we have to consciously choose to do it. Also like exercise, it seems impossible when you start and takes months of effort to really feel comfortable about it. Given only ~25% of the US population exercises regularly, this bodes poorly for actively being social. I suspect we need to "artificially" engineer living co…
Walking, hiking, paddle boarding, skiing, biking on recreation paths all have existed for years. People can choose to do activities that have normal social interaction. Or not. Don't blame a particular economic system.
Life has choices.
Re: Capitalism and convenience are making us lonely
#8If having friends and community is truly valuable to people then there is a huge business opportunity to provide that value. What I'm hearing instead is that folks are complaining that something doesn't exist and then not being willing to pay for it. If you're not willing to pay for something then it's not really that valuable at the end of the day.
Funny to think that this could be solved by the free market.
Re: Capitalism and convenience are making us lonely
#9If having friends and community is truly valuable to people then there is a huge business opportunity to provide that value. What I'm hearing instead is that folks are complaining that something doesn't exist and then not being willing to pay for it. If you're not willing to pay for something then it's not really that valuable at the end of the day.
Funny to think that this could be solved by the free market.
I'm sorry you don't believe the free market has the power to solve this problem, but some one somewhere will eventually innovate and we'll all change out minds from impossible to inevitable. The first one to do it will be seen as a rule breaker but then as a luminary and finally a thought leader. We all know how the story goes.
Re: Capitalism and convenience are making us lonely
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
Funny to think that this could be solved by the free market.
I'm sorry you don't believe the free market has the power to solve this problem, but some one somewhere will eventually innovate and we'll all change out minds from impossible to inevitable. The first one to do it will be seen as a rule breaker but then as a luminary and finally a thought leader. We all know how the story goes.
I’m so baffled by both your comments on this subject. And I have a hard time figuring out if you’re serious or if you’re joking.
It’s so weird. Some things are not business opportunities. If people are feeling lonely because society is a mess, that’s not a business opportunity. That’s a social issue that should be solved.