The age of loneliness is killing us

alyons108 · 2014-10-16T11:44:30+00:00

First, whenever I read the monthly mainstream article that this or that "is killing us," I immediately think: Oh, well, we've got to die of something. That's flippant, I suppose, but death is inevitable for all of us; all we can do is make our choices while alive and see what happens. Trying to engineer our lives to squeeze every potential second out of them seems a little pointless to me. Second, some people prefer to be alone, and don't or rarely feel lonely. I tend to get plenty of socialization at my work and otherwise enjoy my solitude. When I retire in a few years, I may have to adjust something ... or not. IN short, I don't really disagree with anything in the article, except maybe its doomsday tone.

2014-10-16T23:38:57+00:00

I will read this article when I get time since loneliness was something I struggled with for a long time. Then I became content.

I am currently reading Tao te Ching in detail and this post reminded me of the following verse: Ordinary men hate solitude. But the master makes use of it Embracing his aloneness, realizing He's one with the whole universe.

daf121 · 2014-10-16T13:37:35+00:00

Whenever I see 'studies' like, it makes me suspicious. I'd have to know what their criteria was for loneliness...not being married? How can you tell if it is loneliness and not alcoholism, obesity, depression? The article is all over the place. Yes, it start off about loneliness but then goes off on television and income. I focused on the loneliness part of the article and thought about two points:

loneliness is just as great an affliction of older people.

I don't know why this is news. There have been old folks homes forever and I don't ever remember them being the happening place to be.

I read an article that talked about how everyone's social circle is greatest when they are about 29 years old. Up until this point, everyone has been immersed in a large pool of people who have at least one thing in common (age) and quite possible a lot more (major in school, same social class, same tastes). They have their college pals and in their new job they meet other entry level new grads.

It starts dropping off from there...people move, get married, transfer, change jobs. There is no pool of people anymore. It takes effort to go out there and find people.

people turn to their televisions for consolation

Yup. Did that. Could do that still. I make an effort NOT to do this. Nope, I am not anti TV, I still watch it, but I check for events in town, meetup and look to see what the UU church is doing. I can find something to do with others at least 2 times a week, sometimes every night.

But what about close friends? I do believe that everyone really does need some close friends to get a very necessary emotional connection. I am hoping doing what I described above will get me one or two...time will tell. But I don't EXPECT it, the only thing I expect when I go do these things is that I will do the activity and have conversations with people.

It seems to me the 'cure' for loneliness is to find people to do stuff with. Do this as much or as little as needed to cure being lonely. If that is true, I am optimistic. If this article is true, that more and more people are lonely, then that means there are more and more people who I can meet with and enjoy their company. All they have to do is turn off the TV and go to a meetup.

thrownaway_MGTOW · 2014-10-16T23:55:40+00:00

The author has apparently never been to India or Pakistan or Bangladesh or Indonesia or China...

Ergo it may be "killing" (debilitating) people in Britain, but it isn't necessarily doing so everywhere -- and something tells me that the failure of the OP to comprehend that fact is leading him to a host of faulty correlations, and entirely false conclusions in terms of causation.

daf121 · 2014-10-16T09:59:51+00:00

'd like to have your opinion on this.

mojobytes · 2014-10-16T23:54:32+00:00

As an introvert I'd just like to say I'll take care of your pets when social isolation gets you loudmouths.

mister_slfdest · 2014-10-24T12:40:02+00:00

As an introvert myself; people I really get along with are few and far between... That includes friends and romantic interests alike.

In the meantime I have acquaintances, people I dont really get along with but I tolerate for a couple hours here and there. However on the romance side, I now refuse to settle; I did in the past, and it always ended up being an awkward experience.

Title	The age of loneliness is killing us
Author	daf121
Upvotes	15
Comments	8
Date	October 16, 2014 9:59 AM UTC (11 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MGTOW
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/MGTOW/comments/2jelfl/the_age_of_loneliness_is_killing_us/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MGTOW/the-age-of-loneliness-is-killing-us.631301 https://theredarchive.com/post/631301

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