4 ms·

One prosaic explanation for social isolation in Canada in particular would be its relatively harsh winters which make being outside uncomfortable and unpleasant

One prosaic explanation for social isolation in Canada in particular would be its relatively harsh winters which make being outside uncomfortable and unpleasant (i.e., cold, wet, dark) for much of the year, especially if you're old. If you're cooped up inside your house you're much less likely to have chance encounters with your neighbours or strangers.

devoply 7y ago
Another major issue is immigration. You have lots of people living together that don't share any sort of social cultural connection... and then you have work which occupies most people's existence most of the time therefore there is almost no time to build a new culture outside of work... and no one even knows what that would look like to strive towards something like that. Modern capitalist man is one dimensional isolated man whose sense of self is more or less based on providing for him or herself and the things that they care about whether that be people, pets, or the material things which own them such as their financial obligations to the banks for their housing and their employers. Before that in the Middle Ages, Westerners in the upper classes who had any sort of wealth were much more social living very much like people in the so-called third world live today where they would throw parties to show their wealth and took pride in showing off their children and their accomplishments. When that culture was bulldozed, people forgot that it even existed... and perhaps it never did in the frontier like Canada like it did in old Europe. The immigrants were always busy working to be productive and industrious and always not closely related to the people they lived near.
- zed88 7y ago
  More than the immigrants or capitalism , I would boil it down to breaking up of the family as the fundamental building block of society. The 'very recent' social engineering has thrown western societies in a depressive state. Even in the age of plenty, we miss the family bond in our solitary lives.
  - devoply 7y ago
    Well liberation came through technology and politics where women who were quite dependent on men became no longer dependent on men economically or in fear of being impregnated by them. You could not escape that reality before, and so single families proliferated alongside a legal system which encouraged that rather than the patriarchy which forced people to stay together for the kids even if they could no longer stand each other -- or one party was abusive towards the other.
    - malvosenior 7y ago
      An alternative theory, and I think much larger reason for the destruction of the family unit is that individualism was heavily marketed by mainstream media through the 20th century. People shifted their wants and desires in marriage from one of creating a family unit to that of finding personal enlightenment. The excellent documentary The Century of the Self covers the evolution of marketing, the baby boomers and the psychology behind individualism: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Century_of_the_Self https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Century_of_the_Self
eswat 7y ago
I've seen ethnic groups and seniors mitigate this by turning malls into their communal places. Malls with lots of natural sunlight coming in, lots of seating inside and outside of the food court and have a "loop" structure that mimic an indoor track seem to do well to attract this. Maybe we should be looking at the existing “cow paths” and figuring out how to make them more welcoming to the idea of being a shared communal space during the winter.
specialist 7y ago
My observation is that once seniors in the USA lose their ability to drive, they become shut-ins.
- JoeAltmaier 7y ago
  A different view: My mom hasn't driven in 40 years (she's 90). She's not a shut-in. Lives in an apartment with 100 other older, independent people. Took the bus until just recently. Goes to lunch with her kids several times each week. And with the advent of the internet, we want to talk shutins, we want to talk young people online most of their waking moments?

devoply 7y ago

Another major issue is immigration. You have lots of people living together that don't share any sort of social cultural connection... and then you have work which occupies most people's existence most of the time therefore there is almost no time to build a new culture outside of work... and no one even knows what that would look like to strive towards something like that. Modern capitalist man is one dimensional isolated man whose sense of self is more or less based on providing for him or herself and the things that they care about whether that be people, pets, or the material things which own them such as their financial obligations to the banks for their housing and their employers. Before that in the Middle Ages, Westerners in the upper classes who had any sort of wealth were much more social living very much like people in the so-called third world live today where they would throw parties to show their wealth and took pride in showing off their children and their accomplishments. When that culture was bulldozed, people forgot that it even existed... and perhaps it never did in the frontier like Canada like it did in old Europe. The immigrants were always busy working to be productive and industrious and always not closely related to the people they lived near.

zed88 7y ago
More than the immigrants or capitalism , I would boil it down to breaking up of the family as the fundamental building block of society. The 'very recent' social engineering has thrown western societies in a depressive state. Even in the age of plenty, we miss the family bond in our solitary lives.
- devoply 7y ago
  Well liberation came through technology and politics where women who were quite dependent on men became no longer dependent on men economically or in fear of being impregnated by them. You could not escape that reality before, and so single families proliferated alongside a legal system which encouraged that rather than the patriarchy which forced people to stay together for the kids even if they could no longer stand each other -- or one party was abusive towards the other.
  - malvosenior 7y ago
    An alternative theory, and I think much larger reason for the destruction of the family unit is that individualism was heavily marketed by mainstream media through the 20th century. People shifted their wants and desires in marriage from one of creating a family unit to that of finding personal enlightenment. The excellent documentary The Century of the Self covers the evolution of marketing, the baby boomers and the psychology behind individualism: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Century_of_the_Self https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Century_of_the_Self

eswat 7y ago

I've seen ethnic groups and seniors mitigate this by turning malls into their communal places. Malls with lots of natural sunlight coming in, lots of seating inside and outside of the food court and have a "loop" structure that mimic an indoor track seem to do well to attract this. Maybe we should be looking at the existing “cow paths” and figuring out how to make them more welcoming to the idea of being a shared communal space during the winter.

specialist 7y ago

My observation is that once seniors in the USA lose their ability to drive, they become shut-ins.

JoeAltmaier 7y ago
A different view: My mom hasn't driven in 40 years (she's 90). She's not a shut-in. Lives in an apartment with 100 other older, independent people. Took the bus until just recently. Goes to lunch with her kids several times each week. And with the advent of the internet, we want to talk shutins, we want to talk young people online most of their waking moments?