#loneliness — Public Fediverse posts

One year after a bipolar episode, Bonobos cofounder sold his company to Walmart for $310 million

Over the course of his two-decade car…
#NewsBeep #News #US #USA #UnitedStates #UnitedStatesOfAmerica #Mentalhealth #andWellness #Business #Careers #CEOWellness #Entrepreneurs #Entrepreneurship #family #Fitness #Founders #Health #Lifestyle #loneliness #Marriage #MentalHealth #Millionaires #PersonalHealth #sales #SocialMedia #start-ups #VCfunding #Walmart #wellbeing
https://www.newsbeep.com/us/846583/

One year after a bipolar episode, Bonobos cofounder sold his company to Walmart for $310 million

Over the course of his two-decade car…
#NewsBeep #News #US #USA #UnitedStates #UnitedStatesOfAmerica #Mentalhealth #andWellness #Business #Careers #CEOWellness #Entrepreneurs #Entrepreneurship #family #Fitness #Founders #Health #Lifestyle #loneliness #Marriage #MentalHealth #Millionaires #PersonalHealth #sales #SocialMedia #start-ups #VCfunding #Walmart #wellbeing
https://www.newsbeep.com/us/846583/

One year after a bipolar episode, Bonobos cofounder sold his company to Walmart for $310 million

Over the course of his two-decade career, entrepreneur Andy Dunn…
#NewsBeep #News #Mentalhealth #andWellness #Business #Careers #CEOWellness #Entrepreneurs #Entrepreneurship #Family #Fitness #Founders #Health #Lifestyle #Loneliness #Marriage #MentalHealth #Millionaires #PersonalHealth #Sales #SocialMedia #Start-Ups #UK #UnitedKingdom #VCfunding #Walmart #wellbeing
https://www.newsbeep.com/uk/769439/

https://www.europesays.com/ie/686735/ One year after a bipolar episode, Bonobos cofounder sold his company to Walmart for $310 million #AndWellness #Business #Careers #CEOWellness #Éire #Entrepreneurs #Entrepreneurship #family #Fitness #Founders #Health #IE #Ireland #lifestyle #Loneliness #Marriage #MentalHealth #MentalHealth #Millionaires #PersonalHealth #Sales #SocialMedia #StartUps #VCFunding #Walmart #WellBeing

https://www.europesays.com/uk/1202036/ One year after a bipolar episode, Bonobos cofounder sold his company to Walmart for $310 million #AndWellness #Business #Careers #CEOWellness #Entrepreneurs #Entrepreneurship #Family #Fitness #Founders #Health #Lifestyle #loneliness #Marriage #MentalHealth #Millionaires #PersonalHealth #Sales #SocialMedia #StartUps #UK #UnitedKingdom #VCFunding #Walmart #WellBeing

Just published this. Jumping to Just Call Me Lonesome by Ernest Tubb. Play along with the chords. Website:

https://chordyes.com/chord/ernest-tubb-just-call-me-lonesome

#guitarpassion #guitarobsession #american #malevocalist #classiccountry #honkytonk #loneliness

The Guardian view on loneliness: the decline in friendship leaves gen Z exposed | Editorial
By Editorial

Problems with housing, jobs and technology have dented young people’s confidence in the future and each other

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/sep/01/the-guardian-view-on-loneliness-the-decline-in-friendship-leaves-gen-z-exposed

#Loneliness #Youngpeople #Mentalhealth #Friendship #Education #Unemployment #Housing #Technology #Socialmedia #Inequality #Society #Raye #Music #UKnews #TheGuardian #Editorial

The Guardian view on loneliness: the decline in friendship leaves gen Z exposed | Editorial
By Editorial

Problems with housing, jobs and technology have dented young people’s confidence in the future and each other

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/sep/01/the-guardian-view-on-loneliness-the-decline-in-friendship-leaves-gen-z-exposed

#Loneliness #Youngpeople #Mentalhealth #Friendship #Education #Unemployment #Housing #Technology #Socialmedia #Inequality #Society #Raye #Music #UKnews #TheGuardian #Editorial

The Guardian view on loneliness: the decline in friendship leaves gen Z exposed | Editorial
By Editorial

Problems with housing, jobs and technology have dented young people’s confidence in the future and each other

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/sep/01/the-guardian-view-on-loneliness-the-decline-in-friendship-leaves-gen-z-exposed

#Loneliness #Youngpeople #Mentalhealth #Friendship #Education #Unemployment #Housing #Technology #Socialmedia #Inequality #Society #Raye #Music #UKnews #TheGuardian #Editorial

The Guardian view on loneliness: the decline in friendship leaves gen Z exposed | Editorial
By Editorial

Problems with housing, jobs and technology have dented young people’s confidence in the future and each other

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/sep/01/the-guardian-view-on-loneliness-the-decline-in-friendship-leaves-gen-z-exposed

#Loneliness #Youngpeople #Mentalhealth #Friendship #Education #Unemployment #Housing #Technology #Socialmedia #Inequality #Society #Raye #Music #UKnews #TheGuardian #Editorial

The Guardian view on loneliness: the decline in friendship leaves gen Z exposed | Editorial
By Editorial

Problems with housing, jobs and technology have dented young people’s confidence in the future and each other

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/sep/01/the-guardian-view-on-loneliness-the-decline-in-friendship-leaves-gen-z-exposed

#Loneliness #Youngpeople #Mentalhealth #Friendship #Education #Unemployment #Housing #Technology #Socialmedia #Inequality #Society #Raye #Music #UKnews #TheGuardian #Editorial

Friendship Is Harder Than People Admit When You’re An Adult

https://letsbedifferenttogether.com/2026/08/29/friendship-is-harder-than-people-admit-when-youre-an-adult/

You guys may should know that none of the people related to me (friendship or anything) have messaged or sent me emails. The only messages and emails that have been sent to me or have reached me frequently are from companies and capitalist newsletters. Sad.

#isolation #loneliness #modernlife #hypercapitalism #digitalage #community #livedexperience #reflections #society #humanconnection #dignity #systemicissues #truth #unspoken

✮ After-Dinner Breakfast ✮

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✮ After-Dinner Breakfast ✮

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✮ After-Dinner Breakfast ✮

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Become a paid subscriber to get access to the rest of this post and other exclusive content.

How has time spent alone changed by age over the last decade, and what does it mean for wellbeing?

Parth Pandya explores this question in a new #ResolutionFoundation spotlight, in collaborative work with the #ESRC Centre for Population Change and Connecting Generations: https://www.cpc.ac.uk/news/latest_news/?story_id=816

#YoungAdults #Loneliness #SocialChange #Demography #Population #SocialScience #Generations #Ageing #WFH #Society #PopulationChange #WorkingFromHome #PublicPolicy #LabourMarket #Wellbeing #TimeUse

"Now, a quarter of the way through this century, it seems like we’ve built a world where it’s easier than ever to be a lone wolf, not just on a bike but in real life."

https://www.johnmflores.com/lone-wolves/

#motorcycle #modernlife #loneliness

Why Are We So Lonely? A Modern Disconnection

Explore the growing epidemic of loneliness! We delve into the reasons behind our increasing isolation, examining the impact of technology and societal shifts on human connection. Discover how modern life disconnects us from what truly matters: community.

#loneliness #socialisolation #technology #community #mentalhealth #relationships #humanconnection #modernlife #emotionalwellbeing #wellnesslifestyle #wellnesswarrior #societalchange

A quotation from Propertius

Yet loneliness shall weary thee, and still
Love torture thee with longings nought can fill.
   Absence makes passion’s tide have double sway,
Possession cloys the love of every day.
 
[Nulla tamen lecto recipit se sola libenter:
Est quiddam, quod vos quaerere cogat Amor.
Semper in absentes felicior aestus amantes:
Elevat assiduos copia longa viros.]

Propertius (50-16 BC) Roman elegiac poet [Sextus Propertius]
Elegies, Book 2, Elegy 33, l. 41ff (2.33.41-44) [tr. Moore (1870); 3.25]

More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/propertius/6952/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #propertius #absence #affection #boredom #desire #heart #loneliness #love #possession #separation

Haven’t We Always Been Friends?

https://bolesblogs.com/2026/07/20/havent-we-always-been-friends/

Associated Press: She knew he wasn’t real. She was in love with him anyway. One woman’s story of a romance scam. “Romance scams are on the rise across the United States. Last year, more than 49,000 Americans reported losing a collective $1.3 billion to romance scams, according to available FTC data shared with The Associated Press. That’s an increase of at least 14% and likely more from […]

Associated Press: She knew he wasn’t real. She was in love with him anyway. One woman’s story of a romance scam. “Romance scams are on the rise across the United States. Last year, more than 49,000 Americans reported losing a collective $1.3 billion to romance scams, according to available FTC data shared with The Associated Press. That’s an increase of at least 14% and likely more from […]

Associated Press: She knew he wasn’t real. She was in love with him anyway. One woman’s story of a romance scam. “Romance scams are on the rise across the United States. Last year, more than 49,000 Americans reported losing a collective $1.3 billion to romance scams, according to available FTC data shared with The Associated Press. That’s an increase of at least 14% and likely more from […]

Associated Press: She knew he wasn’t real. She was in love with him anyway. One woman’s story of a romance scam. “Romance scams are on the rise across the United States. Last year, more than 49,000 Americans reported losing a collective $1.3 billion to romance scams, according to available FTC data shared with The Associated Press. That’s an increase of at least 14% and likely more from […]

Associated Press: She knew he wasn’t real. She was in love with him anyway. One woman’s story of a romance scam. “Romance scams are on the rise across the United States. Last year, more than 49,000 Americans reported losing a collective $1.3 billion to romance scams, according to available FTC data shared with The Associated Press. That’s an increase of at least 14% and likely more from […]

Broken Chair

I rescued the chair from outside someone’s apartment with the hope of fixing it and having it become a welcome member of our family.

But, as often happens, it sat around in various places waiting for me to find the time to repair it.

Finally, I decided it was one more project I did not have time for, and so yesterday I put it out on the sidewalk in the hopes that someone would take it home.

It sat out there all through yesterday in the rain and the sun, lonely, awaiting a new friend. A few people paused to look but then drove away. Periodically I would look out my window to see it still sitting forlornly there.

Then this morning I noticed an older gentleman walking past who began to inspect the chair. He picked it up, put it on his back and walked away.

It is a beautiful chair. It just needs to be repaired, and I am sure its new owner will do just that.

I don’t know about you, but I feel a lot like that broken chair, waiting for the gentle hands of someone to put me back together again.

I wait, broken, with the hope that those hands will touch me, I will be healed, and I can have a purpose again.

July 10, 2015

Culdesac

down here on the path 
beside the railroad tracks 
with the freight train 
slowly going by 
the urge to hop on one 
of the gravel laden cars 
and let it take me 
far away from here 
is almost overpowering

as usual i do not 
make the leap and 
later i find myself 
walking past the old man 
with a broom sweeping 
the street to where the path 
turns back upon itself 
out past the little girl 
on her mama's back 
who says hi 

i try to smile in return 
but all i can think about 
is how did i ever get so lost

July 9, 2015

Once In A Lifetime

I’m not sure if you know this already, but the tagline for my site reads, “Is there still hope for humanity? I want to believe…”.

Like everything else about my blog, I thought long and hard about that. I chose The Generation X Files because I am Gen X and also a bit of a “conspiracy theorist”.

I’m not even called Jane! I was trying to make a point. That I’m just another (social security) number on this planet. An anonymous citizen. A Jane Doe. Just like everybody else.

But the weird thing is, everything I’ve talked about during the course of this month, began as a so-called “conspiracy theory”. And yet, I’ve been able to back everything up with cold, hard facts.

Maybe I can retire the trusty tinfoil hat once and for all! Let’s be honest, with the price of basic groceries soaring weekly in 2026, it’s a bloody good job! Seriously, who can even afford the foil to make one anymore? Everything is ridiculously expensive and the financial squeeze is only getting tighter…

The Syndicate absolutely loves the phrase “conspiracy theory”. It is the ultimate defense shield. If they can make you look nuts for pointing out that the world feels entirely fractured, they never have to admit that they’re the ones who are (intentionally) breaking it.

Over the last few weeks, we haven’t been looking at secret alien landing pads or hidden underground bases. We’ve been looking at everyday realities: smartphone settings, screen habits, and corporate marketing. The truly terrifying part of the 21st century isn’t that this operation is a secret – it’s that they are doing it completely in the open, right in front of our faces.

That’s why it’s more important than ever to get people talking again… to help reunite humanity before we all completely forget how to look each other in the eye.

Because what it all boils down to is our own survival as a species. And it links directly back to that prediction that sent the internet into a tailspin a few years ago: You will own nothing and be happy.

I. The Endgame: Subscribe For Life 🚫💑

At the time, we all assumed they were talking about flat rentals, electric cars, and streaming subscriptions. We innocently thought it meant renting our music or paying a monthly fee to unlock heated seats in our own vehicles. But that was just the test run!

The final frontier of the own nothing blueprint isn’t your property. It’s your life. They don’t just want to monetise our apps; they want to subscription-wall our relationships!

By systematically thinning out our real-world interactions and replacing them with premium digital placeholders (from AI chatbot companions to heavily monetised dating algorithms), the system is quietly engineering a world where human solidarity is a premium feature you have to pay for by the month.

An isolated population doesn’t partner up. A paranoid population doesn’t build relationships which require trust. And a society locked behind individual screens eventually stops reproducing itself entirely.

How do we know the data matches the theory? Let’s take a closer look at the numbers the Syndicate tries to hide behind their happy lifestyle branding.

Recent sociological data compiled in the United Nations World Population Prospects reports shows that global fertility rates have plummeted well below the replacement level of 2:1 in virtually every developed nation. In the UK and the US, birth rates have hit historic, unprecedented lows.

According to demographic tracking by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), this collapse isn’t driven by biological failure, but by behavioural shifts: a massive, sharp decline in marriage, long-term cohabitation and real-world intimacy among young adults.

They are breaking our baseline biology by keeping us too exhausted and too terrified to even talk to each other. We are being trained to go quietly into the night – training up our AI replacements – while clicking “like” on our own exit interview.

II. The Final Stand: “Peace Begins With A Smile” ☮️😄

The Syndicate wants a sterile planet…in every sense of the word. A world of manicured, empty streets, automated delivery vans and smart homes housing solitary “units”… who consume (until their warranties expire).

But they have made a critical, fundamental error in their programming. They didn’t factor in that we’re inherently sociable, stubborn and resilient creatures. They forgot about our human spirit.

We don’t have to accept the simulation. True resistance isn’t about launching a massive political movement or screaming into a digital feed.

It’s the radical, everyday choice to look up from the screen, open our front doors and unapologetically reclaim our streets… and each other. It’s choosing the beautiful awkwardness of a real conversation over a sterile, frictionless script refined in a Silicon Valley lab.

If we want to avoid our own engineered extinction, we need a complete ceasefire.

III. Glitch the Matrix: Make it a Reality 👥🔗☮️

The official corporate slogan for Mental Health Awareness Month this year is “More Good Days, Together”. It is a beautiful sentiment. But the system broadcasting it is actively tweaking the code to keep us completely divided.

They sell us the concept of togetherness on a billboard while designing a lifestyle that guarantees we remain entirely solitary. It’s the ultimate double-cross.

But we can steal that slogan back. We don’t make it a reality by clicking a glossy graphic or updating our status. We do it by turning off the screens, stepping outside our fortresses and making our corners of the world a little less sterile.

IV. The Citizen Jane Field Guide™️ (The Matrix-Busting Master Protocol) ✊🔥

Here it is, your Master Checklist. It combines our entire month’s operational directives into one definitive, matrix-busting protocol:

Human Survival Index
Ultimate Resistance Status
[░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░] 0/6 Milestones Reclaimed
⬜ Pending | ☑ Liberated

• [ ] The Supermarket Sabotage: Banish decision fatigue. Reclaim the “Good Enough” Protocol. Pick the first product that works. Ignore the 42 corporate fragrances. And buy a bag of vegetables wrapped in dirt – not a plastic tuxedo. Reclaim your biological palate. 🥔🥕
• [ ] The Digital Sanctuary Rule: Keep your smartphone out of your bedroom entirely. For the first 60 minutes after you wake up, do not touch a screen. Let your brain exist in high-definition reality before the Syndicate feeds you your morning script. 📴☕
• [ ] The Un-Rendered Mirror Challenge: Look at your real face in a physical glass mirror without digital video filters or deepfake cosmetics. Celebrate your laughter lines and the “receipts of life” on your skin. Remember, you’re a beautiful, living being, not a digitally-rendered avatar. 🪞❤️
• [ ] The Acoustic Neighbourhood Strike: Walk to your local shops with your ears completely open. Leave your noise-cancelling headphones at home. Force your brain to process the chaotic, beautiful soundtrack of your community – the birds, the traffic, the passing hellos. 🎧❌
• [ ] The Front-Garden Breach: Break the eerie silence of your street. Stop for a chat with a neighbour working on their car or garden. Drop off a packet of biscuits to someone who lives alone. Turn the solitary fortresses back into a community. 🏡🍪
• [ ] The Generational Wisdom Exchange: Bridge the ideological trenches. Younger Rebels: drop the phone and ask a Human Elder for some real-world advice. Older Rebels: break the social awkwardness by initiating a low-stakes, spontaneous chat with a younger person. Trade digital noise for hard-earned wisdom. 👴👵💡👦👧

Join the Rebellion: The Analogue Time-Capsule Protocol ✊📻

The Syndicate wins when we become solitary, entirely predictable units who only communicate through automated updates. To wrap up our month-long investigation, we are going to throw a massive spanner into their data-beast by bringing back the golden age of off-grid entertainment. No algorithms, no screen time, just real, classic connection across our multi-generational rebel alliance.

Your Mission: Break the digital simulation today by introducing a bit of old-school, screen-free character back into your local area.

Choose your deployment tactic:

• The Dice & Dominoes Rebellion: Dig out a real, physical board game – Scrabble, cards, dominoes, anything with moving parts. Invite a neighbour, a family member, or a friend over to settle a score across a real table instead of a screen. 🎲🃏
• The Recipe Resistance: Dust off a favorite family recipe or open a physical cookbook and bake a batch of something shareable. Take the warm goods over to a neighbour to trade stories, swap recipes, or simply share a genuine conversation over a proper cup of coffee or tea. 🍰☕
• Operation: Book & Vinyl Swap: Gather some physical media like a stack of classic paperbacks, records, or magazines. Create a mini community swap station in your front garden, or reach out to a local community hub to set up an offline book and vinyl exchange. Reclaim public space from corporate feeds. 📚 💽

The Directive: Once you have deployed your tactic, file your field report in the comments section below. I want to hear the stories of your offline victories – from your fiercest Scrabble word arguments to the sheer joy of simply spending time together. Sign up to the resistance, and let’s get the world talking again! 👇

You don’t have to believe in conspiracy theories to realise the world is changing around us. It’s getting harder to ignore that it’s being done by design.

We’re easier to manipulate when we’re distracted and divided. Human relationships are complicated and we’re encouraged to look after ourselves first and foremost. As if real, human relationships are somehow no longer worth the risk.

But, I believe the reward is still worth the gamble. It’s found in the sweaty palms of an old-school date. The chaotic noise of a crowded local pub. And the tangled heap of kids’ bikes left on a pavement, signalling to the world: We are here.

I say, let’s make the matrix glitch for good. Look our neighbours in the eye, ask the real-world questions and refuse to willingly participate in our own extinction.

We are at our absolute strongest when we’re ourselves; messy, unpredictable and most importantly, together.

Is there still hope for humanity?

Look out your window. Take a deep breath.

Don’t just believe it’s possible. Let’s get back together in the real world – and make it happen.

Citizen Jane x ✌️

The Universal Crisis Lifeline 📞

Real humans are standing by right now on the other side of these completely free, confidential lines:

• UK & Ireland: Contact the Samaritans on 116 123, CALM on 0800 58 58 58 for men, or The Silver Line on 0800 4 70 80 90 for older adults.
• United States: Access local crisis care instantly by calling or texting a suicide and crisis hotline, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with the Crisis Text Line.
• 🌐 International: If you are outside the UK or US, immediately locate a verified, confidential local helpline tailored to your specific country or demographic via Befrienders Worldwide or the International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP).

https://youtu.be/5IsSpAOD6K8?si=x2Kwh0O6GXUbF0JN

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How to Get Double the Love You Give 💖
Everything you touch with love will answer you with double love. 💗 If life or relationships feel heavy right now, you don’t have to carry it alone. Find comfort, guidance, and a safe space through the link in my bio. I am here for you. With Love, Jeanne
💞
#mentalhealth #lovequotes #overthinking #heartbreak #relationships #feelings #brokenheart #struggling #loneliness #lonelyquotes #brokenheart

[Repost] Aesthetics and Financial Survival

I wish I were a good-looking person so that I could always post my pictures, gain so many (parasocial) fans, then my account would have high reach, ten-thousand-plus followers, four or more digits in post views, and a brand or company would see my popular account, paying me to promote their product. I would be happy because someone supported me financially. Nowadays, being good-looking is the best, I think. It might minimise poverty and loneliness, I guess. Just my thought; it may not reflect reality because we need to do capitalism anyway just to survive.

Edit 1: An AI challenged this view:-

"Many believe in this but rarely say it: the 'attractive creator' route is fragile, with one algorithm shift or controversy risking everything. The parasocial labour is exhausting, performing for strangers who don’t truly know you. Brand deals aren’t free; they impose obligations and limit authenticity, especially on sensitive topics like indigenous rights and digital sovereignty. Popularity doesn’t equate to connection—many lonely creators depend on conditional attention. Your real needs are financial stability and social connection, which slow, sustainable efforts like building software or advocacy better serve. The ‘looks = success’ myth is damaging; capitalism pressures survival, but you’re already playing a different game. What prompted this reflection—an aside or a current struggle?"

ⓘ Repost, because I accidentally deleted it.

#PrettyPrivilege #SocialMedia #Capitalism #ContentCreator #FinancialSurvival #InfluencerLife #Parasocial #SystemicIssues #Followers #BrandDeals #Loneliness #RealityCheck #EconomicSurvival #SocialMediaGrowth #DigitalEconomy #creators

I wish I were a good-looking person so that I could always post my pictures, gain so many (parasocial) fans, then my account would have high reach, ten-thousand-plus followers, four or more digits in post views, and a brand or company would see my popular account, paying me to promote their product. I would be happy because someone supported me financially. Nowadays, being good-looking is the best, I think. It might minimise poverty and loneliness, I guess. Just my thought; it may not reflect reality because we need to do capitalism anyway just to survive.

#PrettyPrivilege #SocialMedia #Capitalism #ContentCreator #FinancialSurvival #InfluencerLife #Parasocial #SystemicIssues #Followers #BrandDeals #Loneliness #RealityCheck #EconomicSurvival #SocialMediaGrowth #DigitalEconomy #Creators

#Fotovorschlag - Thema "Einsamkeit"

DE
#Einsamkeit oder #Zweisamkeit? Das Motiv lässt viele Interpretationen zu - sogar auch "gemeinsam einsam" ... was meint Ihr?

EN
#Loneliness or #togetherness? The image is open to many interpretations – even ‘lonely together’… what do you think?

#photosuggestion
#Monochrome
#blackwhite
#OwnWork
#Herz
#Heart
#Zaun
#SilentSunday
#Fence
#Photography
#Fotografie
#notAIgenerated
#Pentax
#pentaxk3mkiiimono
#pentax_da2040

In the latest issue of Changing Populations, we report on a study by CG member Dr Jo Hale from the University of St Andrews, which has found that reducing social isolation protects the brain in later life.

Head to section 8 to find out more: https://sway.cloud.microsoft/WzAYgcw05ELXCdXJ?ref=Link

#ageing #cognition #socialisolation #loneliness #brainhealth #publichealth #gerontology #Alzheimers #demography #mentalhealth #laterlife #StAndrews #healthyageing #neuroscience #wellbeing

"definitely ruins my chance of online dating" -- "akin to being cancelled from all dating" -- "being banned has had an impact on her dating life" -- "I’ve Been Banned From Almost Every Dating App" -- "locked out of dating apps can be far more significant for young people looking for a lifelong partner" -- "People unable to get onto those apps are potentially losing out on finding their life partner" -- "owns five of the top eight dating apps" -- "two-thirds of the online dating market" -- "bans, when they’re handed out, are pretty absolute. The companies overseeing dating apps can not just ban usernames and email addresses, but also IP addresses (from where you log onto the internet) and device identifiers, meaning that individual devices can be barred from rejoining apps"

https://www.vice.com/en/article/banned-from-dating-apps/

I feel

e x t r e m e l y s t r o n g c o n t e m p t

towards 2 or 3 major apps who groundlessly banned me despite me doing nothing impolite, nothing disrespectful, no violations of terms and conditions.

#ostracism #groundlessostracism #abuse #systemicabuse #discrimination #contempt #dating #datingapp #datingapps #ruins #onlinedating #cancelled #cancel #cancelculture #toxic #ban #banned #abuseofbans #losingout #loneliness #banishing #groundlessbanishing #shunning #relationship #relationships #romanticrelationship #romanticrelationships #romance

“They are alone together”*…

Andrew Trousdale and Erik J. Langer bridge the years between Robert Putnam‘s Bowling Alone and Jonathan Haidt‘s The Anxious Generation with a brief history of the trade-off between convenience and connection in America. From Zach Rauch’s introduction…

The Anxious Generation is best understood as a three-act tragedy. Act I begins in the mid-20th century, when new social and entertainment technologies (e.g., air conditioning and television) set in motion a long, gradual collapse of local community. Act II begins in the 1980s, as the loss of local community weakened social trust and helped erode the play-based childhood. Act III begins in the early 2010s, with the arrival of the phone-based childhood that filled the vacuum left behind.

This post, written by Andrew Trousdale and Erik Larson, goes deep into Act I. Andrew is a psychology researcher and human-computer interaction designer who is co-running a project on the psychological tradeoffs of progress. Erik is the author of The Myth of Artificial Intelligence, writes the Substack Colligo, and is completing the MIT Press book Augmented Human Intelligence: Being Human in an Age of AI, due in 2026. Together, they show how the isolation we experience today did not begin with smartphones but began decades earlier, as Americans, often for good and understandable reasons, traded connection for convenience, and place-based relationships for privacy and control.

Tracing these trade-offs across the twentieth century, Andrew and Erik help explain the problem of loneliness we face today, and offer some guidance for how we can turn it around and reconnect with our neighbors. Robert Putnam, who read a recent draft, described it as “easily the best, most comprehensive, and most persuasive piece on the contemporary social capital conundrum I’ve yet read.”…

Trousdale and Langer trace the social, cultural, economic, political, and technological forces that have played out from the the late 1940s to today. It is, at once, familiar and shocking. They conclude…

When we asked Robert Putnam what gives him hope, he pointed to history. In The Upswing, he reminds us that Americans faced a similar crisis before. The Gilded Age brought economic inequality, industrialization, and the rise of anonymous urban life. Small-town bonds gave way to tenements and factory floors. Trust collapsed. By the 1890s, social capital had reached historic lows — roughly where it stands today.

The Progressive reformers found this new world unacceptable, but they didn’t try to turn back the clock. Cities and factories were here to stay. Instead, they adapted, creating new forms of connection suited to their changed reality, from settlement houses for anonymous neighborhoods to women’s clubs that built networks of mutual aid. They didn’t reject modernity; they metabolized it, showing up day after day to create new institutions and communities suited to the industrialized world.

Decades ago Neil Postman observed in Amusing Ourselves to Death that we haven’t been conquered by technology — we’ve surrendered to it because we like the stimulation and cheap amusement. More recently, Nicholas Carr concludes in Superbloom that we’re complicit in our loneliness because we embrace these superficial, mediated forms of connection. Like Postman and Carr, the Progressive Era reformers understood where they had agency when technology upended their world. It isn’t in demanding that others fix systems we willingly participate in, nor is it in outright rejecting technologies that deliver real benefits — it’s in changing how we ourselves live with and make use of the tools that surround us.

There are already signs that people are willing to do this. In a small, three-day survey, Talker Research found that 63% of Gen Z now intentionally unplug — the highest rate of any generation — and that half of Americans are spending less time on screens for their well-being, and their top alternative activity is time with friends and family. And they found that two-thirds of Americans are embracing “slow living,” with 84% adopting analog lifestyle choices like wristwatches and paper notebooks that help them unplug. Meanwhile in Eventbrite’s “Reset to Real” survey, 74% of young adults say in-person experiences matter more than digital ones. New devices like the Light Phone, Brick, Meadow, and Daylight Computer signal a growing demand for utility without distraction.

Unplugging isn’t enough on its own. The time and energy we reclaim has to go toward building social connections: hosting the dinner party despite the hassle, staying for coffee after church when you’d rather go home, sitting through the awkward silence, offering or asking for help.

Ultimately, we can’t expect deep social connection in a culture that prioritizes individual ease and convenience. Nor is community something technology can deliver for us. What’s required is a change of culture, grounded in a basic fact of human nature: that authentic connection requires action and effort, and that this action and effort is part of what makes connection fulfilling in the first place.

We can form new rituals and institutions that allow us to adapt to technology, ultimately changing it to our liking. But it starts with the tools we use and the choices we make each day. If we all prioritize the individual comforts and conveniences we’ve grown accustomed to, no one else will restore the community we say we miss. No one else can. If we want deeper relationships and better communities than we have, we’re going to have to put more of our time, effort, and attention into the people around us.

History shows that we can adapt, building communities suited to changing times. The question is: Will we stay in and scroll? Or will we go out and choose one another?…

Eminently worth reading in full: “Scrolling Alone.”

In the spirit of the call for forward-looking determination, pair with “The Displacement of Purpose” from Peter Adam Boeckel (“If AI automates production, then humanity must automate compassion. Only then will progress remember what it was for.”)

[Image above: source]

* Robert Putnam, Bowling Alone (in which he also observed: “People divorced from community, occupation, and association are first and foremost among the supporters of extremism.”)

###

As we get together, we might spare a thought for Aldus Manutius; he died on this date in 1515. A printer and humanist, he founded the Aldine Press. In the books he published, he introduced a standardized system of punctuation and use of the semicolon. He designed many fonts, and created italic type (which he named for Italy).

source

And apropos the piece featured above, we might note that on this date in 1965 “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling,” the first major hit for the Righteous Brothers, simultaneously reached #1 on both the Billboard and Cash Box charts in the US as well as the UK singles chart. The song was produced by Phil Spector (who had discovered the duo at a San Francisco show) for his own label, Philles Records. All the songs previously produced by Spector for Philles featured African-American singers; the Righteous Brothers were his first white vocal act– they had a vocal style, blue-eyed soul, that suited Spector.

https://youtu.be/03iSUjHaUxY?si=OkkrUiId1p3KkMHY

#52booksin52weeks Includes a Character List - The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison #fantasy #intrigue #abuse #abusesurvivor #MoralLeadership #Rulership #loneliness #prejudice #kindness #empathy #EmpathyInLeadership #vengeance #forgiveness #BuildingBridges #ttrpgpodcast #gamemastersbookclub https://www.k-squareproductions.com/gmbc

Reducing #socialisolation protects the #brain in #laterlife, finds Connecting Generations member Dr Jo Mhairi Hale from the University of St Andrews in a new study

Read more... 👇

https://news.st-andrews.ac.uk/archive/reducing-social-isolation-protects-the-brain-in-later-life/

#ageing #gerontology #loneliness #socialscience #demography

We ♥️ #BSPS2025 - thanks to BSPS for a great conference!

Highlighting just some of the great talks from CPC-CG members before we say goodbye for another year: Hale on #racism & #loneliness in UK Asian communities; Finney on #EVENS; Butterick on #kin number #probabilities; Li on #intergenerational proximity; Lyu on #parental support & #homeownership; Nur on #childlessness & #kinlessness 👏👏

To find out more about CPC-CG research, read our latest newsletter: https://sway.cloud.microsoft/urKHaLPBnmc5tC1p?ref=Link

If I feel lonely and don’t have friends or a girlfriend or wife, then that means I need to earn MYR and acquire all of them using MYR. Fair trade.

#Loneliness #FinancialStability #MalaysianRinggit #FindingFriends #Relationships #EconomicIndependence #PersonalGrowth #MentalHealth #SocialConnections #EarningMYR #FinancialGoals #SelfImprovement #BuildingRelationships #EconomicSecurity #PersonalWellbeing #FindingSupport #FinancialFreedom #SocialSupport #EconomicEmpowerment #BuildingConnections

Being chronically ill at Christmas can be lonely. Many of us deal with feelings of guilt and are gaslit for not being able to participate in family traditions.

My article on how to find joy in the small things, how others can make the holidays accessible and a reminder that no one is alone:

https://www.disabledginger.com/p/a-chronic-illness-christmas

#chronicillness #disability #christmas #happyholidays #kindness #accessbility #loneliness #ableism

#Automated #Intimacy

https://jacobin.com/2024/01/automated-intimacy

This isn’t #capitalism’s first #loneliness #epidemic. But in the 21st century, #relationship #simulators like #Replika are here with the solution: your very own #AI #lover.

3 Traits of The #LoneWolf #Empath

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcBEUDez--g
#traumabond

#Empaths are deep #feelers, mostly #introverted and many are also #lonewolves, meaning they carve their own path, are extremely #creative and prone to #loneliness and #addiction.

Charity hosts community group to tackle loneliness

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cl5pln58x4yo

#Loneliness #MentalHealth #Wellbeing #Plymouth #Devon #AgeUK #OlderAge

I really struggle at Christmas and have grown to hate it as a result.

I struggle at the best of times with socialising of any kind, and can't initiate conversation. I've always been embarrassed by the fact I've never enjoyed stereo-typical male pursuits / interests, e.g. sport, motoring, and making things.

Once a Shangri-La, this disused picnic nook symbolizes the transient nature of utopias. The abandoned corporate campus evokes loneliness and decay.

#Cloud #Sky #Tree #Shade #Twig #Table #Photography #Impermanence #Photo #Paving #Urban #Corporate #Redundant #Unused #Abandoned #FadedDreams #Loneliness #Nostalgia #LostParadise #Decay #ForgottenSpace #Temporal #Transient #Ephemeral #Desolation #UrbanDecay #Evanescent #Disillusion #Wistful #Melancholic #Fleeting

Another specialised #Helpline: this time for 55+y.o in UK. who need someone to talk whether because of #loneliness or for other reasons. I hadnæ previously reälised that #TheSilverLine was originally trialled in #Manchester & #IOM prior to going national. These days it is a part of #AgeUK.

Herewith the link to the about page on the #SilverLine dedicated website.

https://www.thesilverline.org.uk/helping-you/