4 ms·

I'm not sure how social alienation (everybody just pretending each other don't exist) can be framed as a good thing for keeping society together. In my eyes, it

• sirmarksalot 5y ago
  Social alienation is a coping mechanism, and like most/all coping mechanisms, it provides some value, but at a cost. The value of social alienation is that you can walk down a crowded street and not be asked by every single person how your day is going, what you got up to last night, how your cat's doing, etc. etc. Caring about the intimate details of everyone else's life just doesn't scale. At some point you need to be able to call out some people as being more important to you than others, and ignore the rest. And of course, this can damage you emotionally, make you numb to the needs of others, and prevent you from forming a community with the people around you.
  • beaconstudios 5y ago
    I don't believe that's the origin point of social alienation - it's a cultural bias that develops as societies embrace capitalism. Social forces encourage people to engage in profitable activities like media consumption over unprofitable activities like community engagement, and the transient and impersonal nature of employment prevents people from easily making connections in the place they spend most of their time around others.