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While my heart empathizes with the anti-consumerist and fear of the end of the world sentiments expressed on this thread, I wonder if it is the loneliness issue
by padseeker 7y ago
While my heart empathizes with the anti-consumerist and fear of the end of the world sentiments expressed on this thread, I wonder if it is the loneliness issue that keeps being cited in many modern studies.
I think I could have easily been on this path to misery, but then I formed a soccer team that plays once a week. We play and then go out for beers. The whole team has bonded. I cannot tell you how much a difference it has made in my life. The joy I get from playing together and then hanging out afterwards is immeasurable.
I have people in my close circle, even my significant other, who feels like they have limited social interactions. The rise of social media, lack of group activities, the rise of suicide, social isolation, blah blah blah, you can fill in the rest.
I am very scared for our collective future but I cannot emphasize enough how important this small social activity of playing a sport together with people I have come to really like has given me purpose and joy that made an enormous difference in my life.
- davesque 7y agoVery good advice. I think people used to get together more because it was necessary in order to communicate. Now, we can communicate pretty effectively without actually meeting anyone. But we still need to be social and interact. These days, we have to be more proactive about that whereas before it happened more naturally.
- dorchadas 7y agoAgreed. Just being in the presence and interacting with other people can often help me on my worse days. Even somethig as simple as interacting with a waitress or a cashier at a fast food restaurant. It's something we're losing at a rapid rate, and it sucks. This lack of face to face communication also hurts us in other ways too. I've an 11 year old cousin who's had a phone since he was 8. He can't understand tone and jokes, and unless it's obviously meant to be funny, he'll often come back with a really rude remark about something too. He just doesn't understand empathy or how to interpret jokes because he spends all his time watching YouTube...
- copperx 7y agoWhat makes YouTube different than TV, which many of our parents watched as kids? TV used to be a babysitter, too, for the previous generation.
- whamlastxmas 7y agoYouTubers often have a very distinct artificial sort of personality that kids try to emulate. This is especially bad if you ever watch Logan Paul type videos and it's basically a bunch of antisocial behavior under the guise of having fun and playing jokes. They're also universally loud and abrasive.
- krageon 7y agoTelevision has similar problems (weird personalities), so while I agree with you on the troubling personality types I don't see how it is materially different.
- dorchadas 7y agoInfinite content that interests you, on demand. TV never had what YouTube offers, and so there was always reason to move away from TV and do something else when it was the main babysitter. Now, that's gone. You cna find infinite hours of whatever interests you on YouTube, and just spiral downhill forever. Coupled with the fact that there's nobody else their age who can have a conversation, and it's a self-fulfilling prophecy.
- P_I_Staker 7y agoYup. I've become isolated, and it's caused numerous issues. I have friends and stuff, but I haven't built the types of relationships and interactions you're referring to. It's too easy to just go home and chill after a frustrating day at work.
- asdff 7y agoI started skateboarding again!