4 ms·

Is the true in America? I’m in the UK, and while social isolation, particularly for men is probably worse than it was, I think many, myself included, have at le

by MrDrDr 24d ago

Is the true in America? I’m in the UK, and while social isolation, particularly for men is probably worse than it was, I think many, myself included, have at least one person we can turn to in times of crisis. Or am I in a bubble?

toomuchtodo 24d ago
The author of this piece, Ryan Burge, typically relies data that is scoped to the US for his pieces (to the best of my knowledge). You would have to reach out to him to inquire about the UK, if any similar data is available for analysis, etc. With that said, the ARDA appears to have global data available at https://thearda.com/ https://thearda.com/ > This post has been unlocked through a generous grant from the Lilly Endowment for the Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA). The graphs you see here use data that is publicly available for download and analysis through link(s) provided in the text below. Code for this post can be found at https://gist.github.com/ryanburge/0895d855fdc93c3ce26b034349edcb49 https://gist.github.com/ryanburge/0895d855fdc93c3ce26b034349... (Ryan also wrote "The Vanishing Church: How the Hollowing Out of Moderate Congregations Is Hurting Democracy, Faith, and Us," which I highly recommend; he is exceptionally data driven within this domain, no affiliation besides subscribing to his Substack) https://bakerpublishinggroup.com/products/9781587436697_the-vanishing-church https://bakerpublishinggroup.com/products/9781587436697_the-...
dirtybirdnj 24d ago
This is absolutely true in america. My partner left me and my social life has completely collapsed. I have nobody to talk to when things get difficult. I am estranged from my father, my mother is disabled and requires increasing medical support. I'm an only child, I have no local family. Once the floor drops out from under you there is nothing to stop the rapid decent to nothingness. There is a generation of discarded people who have nobody left. When we lose our last threads of social connection there's no way back. Beyond hopeless. Enjoy your bubble. america is completely fucked.
- reactordev 24d ago
  Call 211
- mancerayder 24d ago
  I think it helps to live in a city. The cities have their problems, they're expensive and dirty, but there are loads of older single adults, and even an introvert can sit at the same bar once a week and meet people, or go to meetups or a weekly class and slowly meet people. Hell, in bad times even chatting with a bartender was nice. Being in your shoes in a suburban setting surrounded by families and neat little houses (or huge fields in a country setting) I imagine is hard. I'm only making assumptions. Have you thought about traveling long weekends or abroad longer? Perfectly doable solo.
  - TFNA 24d ago
    Meetups aren't as effective as you think. I have seen complaints from multiple large European cities that general social meetups don't actually result much in people exchanging contacts and meeting again in future; it feels like a one-off encounter with other human beings, and that makes it dismal. There is even a predatory industry now of for-profit social meetups because people are so lonely, and knowing that one is being exploited only makes it more dismal. For more specialized hobby meetups, it is a common complaint that one's fellows are only met while practicing the hobby, they never become general friends that one can meet regularly with, let alone turn to in emotionally heavy times. I wouldn't recommend solo travel as a way to socialize unless one knows the person's age. It's a sad fact that over the age of about 30-35, solo travelers (especially men) can no longer take advantage of the social opportunities of the backpacker scene; you might get a few nice chats, but most travelers will be very wary of you.
- KittenInABox 24d ago
  Learning how to develop a social network independently is a skill. If your partner leaving you collapses your social life, do you live in a small town where the narrative has turned against you, or did you simply rely on them to be the adult in the room and set up playdates for you like you're a child? Go to bookclubs.com and start a book club, or join a book club, or go to a local library and do any of the social stuff. Go to a crochet club, even empty-handed, chances are the fiber arts people will have plenty to spare. These are friendships that have to be forged and worked on day in and day out to strengthen them, like a sword.
tokai 24d ago
Precovid social isolation was the same in US and UK. [0] This investigation have numbers that say that Brits are experiencing more social isolation than untitedstateians. [1] [0] https://publica.org.au/wp-content/uploads/DiJulio-et-al.-Loneliness-and-social-isolation.pdf https://publica.org.au/wp-content/uploads/DiJulio-et-al.-Lon... [1] https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2838875 https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle...
- graemep 24d ago
  its not a signficant difference though. 22% vs 23% for total reporting isolation.
- antonvs 24d ago
  > unitedstateians We're going to need a better name for them. Trumpistanians perhaps?

by MrDrDr 24d ago

toomuchtodo 24d ago

The author of this piece, Ryan Burge, typically relies data that is scoped to the US for his pieces (to the best of my knowledge). You would have to reach out to him to inquire about the UK, if any similar data is available for analysis, etc. With that said, the ARDA appears to have global data available at https://thearda.com/ https://thearda.com/ > This post has been unlocked through a generous grant from the Lilly Endowment for the Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA). The graphs you see here use data that is publicly available for download and analysis through link(s) provided in the text below. Code for this post can be found at https://gist.github.com/ryanburge/0895d855fdc93c3ce26b034349edcb49 https://gist.github.com/ryanburge/0895d855fdc93c3ce26b034349... (Ryan also wrote "The Vanishing Church: How the Hollowing Out of Moderate Congregations Is Hurting Democracy, Faith, and Us," which I highly recommend; he is exceptionally data driven within this domain, no affiliation besides subscribing to his Substack) https://bakerpublishinggroup.com/products/9781587436697_the-vanishing-church https://bakerpublishinggroup.com/products/9781587436697_the-...

dirtybirdnj 24d ago

This is absolutely true in america. My partner left me and my social life has completely collapsed. I have nobody to talk to when things get difficult. I am estranged from my father, my mother is disabled and requires increasing medical support. I'm an only child, I have no local family. Once the floor drops out from under you there is nothing to stop the rapid decent to nothingness. There is a generation of discarded people who have nobody left. When we lose our last threads of social connection there's no way back. Beyond hopeless. Enjoy your bubble. america is completely fucked.

reactordev 24d ago
Call 211
mancerayder 24d ago
I think it helps to live in a city. The cities have their problems, they're expensive and dirty, but there are loads of older single adults, and even an introvert can sit at the same bar once a week and meet people, or go to meetups or a weekly class and slowly meet people. Hell, in bad times even chatting with a bartender was nice. Being in your shoes in a suburban setting surrounded by families and neat little houses (or huge fields in a country setting) I imagine is hard. I'm only making assumptions. Have you thought about traveling long weekends or abroad longer? Perfectly doable solo.
- TFNA 24d ago
  Meetups aren't as effective as you think. I have seen complaints from multiple large European cities that general social meetups don't actually result much in people exchanging contacts and meeting again in future; it feels like a one-off encounter with other human beings, and that makes it dismal. There is even a predatory industry now of for-profit social meetups because people are so lonely, and knowing that one is being exploited only makes it more dismal. For more specialized hobby meetups, it is a common complaint that one's fellows are only met while practicing the hobby, they never become general friends that one can meet regularly with, let alone turn to in emotionally heavy times. I wouldn't recommend solo travel as a way to socialize unless one knows the person's age. It's a sad fact that over the age of about 30-35, solo travelers (especially men) can no longer take advantage of the social opportunities of the backpacker scene; you might get a few nice chats, but most travelers will be very wary of you.
KittenInABox 24d ago
Learning how to develop a social network independently is a skill. If your partner leaving you collapses your social life, do you live in a small town where the narrative has turned against you, or did you simply rely on them to be the adult in the room and set up playdates for you like you're a child? Go to bookclubs.com and start a book club, or join a book club, or go to a local library and do any of the social stuff. Go to a crochet club, even empty-handed, chances are the fiber arts people will have plenty to spare. These are friendships that have to be forged and worked on day in and day out to strengthen them, like a sword.

tokai 24d ago

Precovid social isolation was the same in US and UK. [0] This investigation have numbers that say that Brits are experiencing more social isolation than untitedstateians. [1] [0] https://publica.org.au/wp-content/uploads/DiJulio-et-al.-Loneliness-and-social-isolation.pdf https://publica.org.au/wp-content/uploads/DiJulio-et-al.-Lon... [1] https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2838875 https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle...

graemep 24d ago
its not a signficant difference though. 22% vs 23% for total reporting isolation.
antonvs 24d ago
> unitedstateians We're going to need a better name for them. Trumpistanians perhaps?