Not sure how you would identify loneliness as having reached epidemic proportions but interesting (gifted) article on how to treat it.
We must stop the spread! Isolate those affected until they can demonstrate they arenāt lonely any more!
The beatings will continue until morale improves!
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get them on social media. that ought to help. /s (cross post to bad advice thread)
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Probably need to define ālonelinessā and then what its causes are, besides virtual social media, of course.
Simple: āI am alone and I donāt want to beā?
Or more complicated: āAll these people around me: they donāt know me nor want to know me.ā
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Article makes distinction between social isolation and loneliness. That seems to be the extent of definition.
āWhile sometimes mistaken for social isolation, loneliness is different. Social isolation is an objective state: Are you interacting regularly with other people or not? Loneliness, by contrast, is a paradoxical puzzle ā an entirely subjective experience of distress at oneās perceived lack of social connection.ā
I think the difference between being alone and being lonely is simple: a person likes being alone, or is at least neutral to it, but does not like being lonely.
A problem with loneliness in the US would not surprise me. We have become radically individualistic, probably even compared to our history.
For example, people are more likely to feel lonely in Manhattan, where they are surrounded by millions of peopleā¦ who are complete strangers, than in a much smaller place, where they might at least know a few dozen people in a meaningful way.
Cloistered nuns may feel less lonely than an urbanite who is going out nightly to all sorts of activities.
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Eh, sharing loneliness is still better than drinking alone
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Well, thereās always my pal Jack Daniels, and his partner Jimmy Beamā¦
Whoops, wrong song!
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I believe loneliness can be solved by hanging out more.
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Somewhat related. In our car-dependent culture many of us spend very little time in venues other than the home and workplace so weāre missing out on serendipitous meetings -
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Finding a third place? Does that mean I should be a Cubs fan? Not sure if thatās any better than lonelinessā¦
Theyāll always have 2124 to look forward to.
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Should that hanging out happen down the street?
You and I should hang out the next time Iām in town.
All GoActuary posters, lonely or not, are encouraged to say hello if passing through Vancouver.
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