Loneliness and Me(ft.com)
ft.com
Loneliness and Me
https://www.ft.com/content/408afd90-7f25-49b9-a10d-253c5b29e743
12 comments
Everything worth doing in life is hard. Family, friends, purpose, health - these are the things that are going to make you truly happy, and maintaining all of them takes effort. You need to devote time and energy to all of them. Your career is important and can give you purpose, but not if it causes you to sacrifice the other three.
A lot of people are saying, that newer generations are lonelier than before, because society is a lot more impersonal and a real interactions are replaced by social media. But when the pandemic ends I think it's going to improve at least partially, because lockdown is making more people crave in-person interaction and realize that it's important.
One thing that was surprising:
> A 2018 study by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that more than a fifth of US and UK adults, and 9 per cent of Japanese adults, said they always or often felt lonely.
I watched a documentary that explained Japan had a serious problem with putting work before social interaction, and people of both sexes were having trouble finding partners. Is it true that the US and UK have even more loneliness?
One thing that was surprising:
> A 2018 study by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that more than a fifth of US and UK adults, and 9 per cent of Japanese adults, said they always or often felt lonely.
I watched a documentary that explained Japan had a serious problem with putting work before social interaction, and people of both sexes were having trouble finding partners. Is it true that the US and UK have even more loneliness?
The flaw is that it's based on self-reporting. So, more people in the US/UK will self-identify as lonely, whereas in Japan, it might be kind of embarrassing to admit to that, or people might not tend to think of themselves that way?
Japan (at least in major cities) seems to have a culture of insane overtime that creates loneliness issues. No time for friends or dating. The US might be headed in the same direction because rents in some large cities are rising fast, and some people have no choice but to work multiple jobs to make ends meet.
We're also living in a time where love relationships are seen as having an expiration date, as being disposable. The rise of Tinder, it seems like we're applying consumerism to relationships. We have a short attention span and we don't care for close connections. Just my opinion, but I don't think this is going to do good things for the world.
Japan (at least in major cities) seems to have a culture of insane overtime that creates loneliness issues. No time for friends or dating. The US might be headed in the same direction because rents in some large cities are rising fast, and some people have no choice but to work multiple jobs to make ends meet.
We're also living in a time where love relationships are seen as having an expiration date, as being disposable. The rise of Tinder, it seems like we're applying consumerism to relationships. We have a short attention span and we don't care for close connections. Just my opinion, but I don't think this is going to do good things for the world.
From personal observations of people around me and reading a bunch of random articles on that topic in the past (cannot be bothered to find sources now, so all I am about to say can just be counted as anecdata), it isn't true that the US and UK have even more loneliness, but it is true that it is trending upwards and would eventually get to the same level if it keeps going.
There was a lovely quote in another essay linked to on HN recently:
"The cure for loneliness is solitude". [0]
That could considered a little glib, but also gets deeper the more one thinks about it (or tries it)
[0] https://www.outsideonline.com/2418783/my-priceless-summer-ma...
"The cure for loneliness is solitude". [0]
That could considered a little glib, but also gets deeper the more one thinks about it (or tries it)
[0] https://www.outsideonline.com/2418783/my-priceless-summer-ma...
Non-paywalled version: https://archive.vn/ImzQn
Thanks, I thought this was a good article.
doesnt work
This is a classified ad. Not that I have any problem with that.
[deleted]
Loneliness is not a real problem, the problem is those who insist on bothering others.
As the article explains whether loneliness is a real problem for you depends on your personality.
Some people relish time alone and would rather people not bother them at all. Some people fear spending even a single day alone.
For most people it's a mixed bag, some days they'd rather be alone and cancel their plans. Other days they can't wait to go out with friends.
Some people relish time alone and would rather people not bother them at all. Some people fear spending even a single day alone.
For most people it's a mixed bag, some days they'd rather be alone and cancel their plans. Other days they can't wait to go out with friends.