Most Americans Are Lonely, and Our Workplace Culture May Not Be Helping(npr.org)
npr.org
Most Americans Are Lonely, and Our Workplace Culture May Not Be Helping
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/01/23/798676465/most-americans-are-lonely-and-our-workplace-culture-may-not-be-helping
8 comments
It is because "workplace culture" is now just "American culture". We don't view other Americans as people, but rather as competitors, tools we can exploit for our own success, or parasites keeping us from success. 80s career advice is now life advice.
Well and you can never make a mistake for fear of potentially triggering or offending someone, forcing topics to be pretty banal. And if you can't have interesting conversations with people and explore mutual interests then it's hard to build any sort of friendship that might transcend your work relationship.
My experience growing up in America mirrors your description here. I’ve found the average American to be ok with bullying, sabotage, dishonesty, and malice.
I am 32, I am great at making friends, have a wealth of friends all around the country, and have never been so devastatingly lonely, but the problem is economic, not cultural.
I worked in video production throughout my 20s. I am technically inclined and gravitated to post production. I was good at it and had a great reputation. The constant churn of new technology was fun for me. The problem was the industry turning to hiring feeelancers for every position except management. It is no longer a reliable way to make a living. I never had an interview without getting the job, but the rates I needed were no longer available, and it was increasingly rare that clients wanted quality work.
I tried changing careers before things got too bad, but my whole life and reputation were build around my existing career. I couldn’t pull it off in time. Rents in the west-coast city I lived in skyrocketed and the apartment building I lived in for 8 years was bought by some foreign investors. I tried to hang on but about 6 months was all I could do after that.
Still paying off my own student debt, and with so many other friends paying off useless degrees, I opted against going back to school so I am now living with my parents in a small midwest town studying web development while working a part-time minimum wage job. It feels completely unreal. I have been writing scripts for video post-production for years, so I had a head start at least.
Among my friends, I am hardly alone. Those who chose MBAs or a handful of other careers (like web development) are doing great and the rest of us are struggling with less and less control over our lives. This is still an anecdote but my point is this is much less about loneliness and more about precarity.
I worked in video production throughout my 20s. I am technically inclined and gravitated to post production. I was good at it and had a great reputation. The constant churn of new technology was fun for me. The problem was the industry turning to hiring feeelancers for every position except management. It is no longer a reliable way to make a living. I never had an interview without getting the job, but the rates I needed were no longer available, and it was increasingly rare that clients wanted quality work.
I tried changing careers before things got too bad, but my whole life and reputation were build around my existing career. I couldn’t pull it off in time. Rents in the west-coast city I lived in skyrocketed and the apartment building I lived in for 8 years was bought by some foreign investors. I tried to hang on but about 6 months was all I could do after that.
Still paying off my own student debt, and with so many other friends paying off useless degrees, I opted against going back to school so I am now living with my parents in a small midwest town studying web development while working a part-time minimum wage job. It feels completely unreal. I have been writing scripts for video post-production for years, so I had a head start at least.
Among my friends, I am hardly alone. Those who chose MBAs or a handful of other careers (like web development) are doing great and the rest of us are struggling with less and less control over our lives. This is still an anecdote but my point is this is much less about loneliness and more about precarity.
Many of the positive qualities that harbor close ties and meaningful relationships with family and friends require "work" and time, most people today either do not have the time (perhaps due to work commitments etc.) or will not invest the effort required to create new or sustain and make existing relationships grow with time.
I am reminded of the old saying, - 'You can't have your cake and eat it'. By that, I mean, their is a trade-off when devoting many of your waking hours to work, excessive entertainment and other pursuits related purely to material gains and then in turn neglecting the just as important social connections in your life. The result is typically loneliness or worse...
I can appreciate for many people it can seem out of their control to reach some form of work/life balance but over time everyone has the power to both start making changes in their life styles and also, the way they react to the events in their life. With some sacrifices and motivation to do so, you definitely increase your chances of lessening loneliness.
I am reminded of the old saying, - 'You can't have your cake and eat it'. By that, I mean, their is a trade-off when devoting many of your waking hours to work, excessive entertainment and other pursuits related purely to material gains and then in turn neglecting the just as important social connections in your life. The result is typically loneliness or worse...
I can appreciate for many people it can seem out of their control to reach some form of work/life balance but over time everyone has the power to both start making changes in their life styles and also, the way they react to the events in their life. With some sacrifices and motivation to do so, you definitely increase your chances of lessening loneliness.
> Social media use was tied to loneliness as well, with 73% of very heavy social media users considered lonely, as compared with 52% of light users.
That’s ~20% more loneliness from heavy social media users!
That’s ~20% more loneliness from heavy social media users!
True. Orthogonal to religious views, churches served as community anchors and people talked to their neighbors. Furthermore, most people under 40 don't own their own homes, don't have any wealth, don't have roots to the place where the work paycheck-to-paycheck. Unconcerned, uninformed white collar workers buy the narrative by repeat factoids like "the economy is the best ever" while denying real inequality such as the gutting of the middle-class, pervasive lack of net worth and the many hundreds of thousands more homeless people living on the streets than 30 years ago... this lack of solidarity and lack of empathy with the people who are hurting but feel screwed is what let Trump win.
And also the corporate inverted totalitarianism, mainstream media, social media and political animosity/puritanism atomizes people with 300 Facebook friends who they never talk to into real-life groups of 1.
Maybe America is slowly going the way of the Roman Republic/Empire but I sure hope folks wake up and turn things around for We The People rather than just the very rich soon.
I think I'll unplug for tonight.
And also the corporate inverted totalitarianism, mainstream media, social media and political animosity/puritanism atomizes people with 300 Facebook friends who they never talk to into real-life groups of 1.
Maybe America is slowly going the way of the Roman Republic/Empire but I sure hope folks wake up and turn things around for We The People rather than just the very rich soon.
I think I'll unplug for tonight.
hug dunno why but I think you need it