<story><title>Is Loneliness a Health Epidemic?</title><url>https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/09/opinion/sunday/loneliness-health.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>hestipod</author><text>I am incredibly lonely. Health and financial circumstances pushed me into the worst possible social situation...isolated in rural unconnected America where the only two people I regularly see resent me and it has had a severely negative effect on my already miserable health over the years. Being middle aged it magnifies the issue as it&amp;#x27;s harder to connect as you age anyway due to life&amp;#x27;s progression. I saw huge numbers of older people in my previous work who were so terribly alone. It&amp;#x27;s hard enough when young.&lt;p&gt;A &amp;quot;remote social life&amp;quot; is not even close to the same thing and chats online or the phone with &amp;quot;disposable friends&amp;quot; and strangers who have a clear and easy disconnect from your real life don&amp;#x27;t fill the hole a lack of enduring, present human contact leaves and usually take precious energy with no real benefit. Even though I am an extremely introverted person by most standards I still need social connection to thrive and have felt the best living in big cites with lots of options but I can&amp;#x27;t find a way back.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>doughj3</author><text>&amp;gt; A &amp;quot;remote social life&amp;quot; is not even close to the same thing and chats online or the phone with &amp;quot;disposable friends&amp;quot; and strangers who have a clear and easy disconnect from your real life don&amp;#x27;t fill the hole a lack of enduring, present human contact leaves and usually take precious energy with no real benefit.&lt;p&gt;Maybe this is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Anecdotally, I and others I know have formed deep, meaningful relationships with people online. I think the hardest part of that is finding small communities - i.e, it&amp;#x27;s hard to make meaningful connections in a sub-reddit filled with 100,000 people, but in niche forums and chatrooms, with userbases in the dozens, I think it&amp;#x27;s much more feasible.</text></comment>
<story><title>Is Loneliness a Health Epidemic?</title><url>https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/09/opinion/sunday/loneliness-health.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>hestipod</author><text>I am incredibly lonely. Health and financial circumstances pushed me into the worst possible social situation...isolated in rural unconnected America where the only two people I regularly see resent me and it has had a severely negative effect on my already miserable health over the years. Being middle aged it magnifies the issue as it&amp;#x27;s harder to connect as you age anyway due to life&amp;#x27;s progression. I saw huge numbers of older people in my previous work who were so terribly alone. It&amp;#x27;s hard enough when young.&lt;p&gt;A &amp;quot;remote social life&amp;quot; is not even close to the same thing and chats online or the phone with &amp;quot;disposable friends&amp;quot; and strangers who have a clear and easy disconnect from your real life don&amp;#x27;t fill the hole a lack of enduring, present human contact leaves and usually take precious energy with no real benefit. Even though I am an extremely introverted person by most standards I still need social connection to thrive and have felt the best living in big cites with lots of options but I can&amp;#x27;t find a way back.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>snarf21</author><text>It is a real problem. I also think you can take baby steps to address this. Find a hobby whether gardening or board games or kayaking or whatever. It is hard to make friends as you get older &lt;i&gt;except&lt;/i&gt; (imo) around hobbies. People will gladly talk endless about their favorite thing. This might not lead to a bff but it is a real human connection based on shared interest. This hobby might not be in your village, you may have to drive an hour but please do it. I think it will really really help.</text></comment>