<story><title>The pandemic has deepened an epidemic of loneliness</title><url>https://mcc.gse.harvard.edu/reports/loneliness-in-america</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>naravara</author><text>Doesn’t this depend on having friends who are off the internet too?&lt;p&gt;In the before times, I’d go to get drinks with friends and often found they were chronically distracted. If there’s a lull in conversation they pull out their phones. I go to the bathroom and come back and they’re swiping through Tinder.&lt;p&gt;I got married before the dating apps got popular so I never went down that particular rabbit hole, but I feel like they’ve severely damaged people’s ability to pay attention to where they are and who they’re with.</text></item><item><author>JKCalhoun</author><text>All I can think: turn off the internet.&lt;p&gt;Internet in the morning. Have your coffee, catch up on the news, your social.&lt;p&gt;Then put the internet down for the rest of the day. Go out, ride a bike with a friend, go hike with a friend, go to a coffee shop, library....</text></item><item><author>jbrun</author><text>It&amp;#x27;s a bit paradoxical. I have a tech company and most staff want to come to the office 1 day a week. Getting them to come is very tough. Many of my staff and friends don&amp;#x27;t want to have kids, make no effort to find a partner and find all sorts of excuses. Netflix, the internet and these things are part of the problem, but I have no clue what the solution is. There is only one way to not be lonely - be with people who care about you. That requires an investment of time and of your emotions - something many people seem unable or unwilling to do. You have to get out into the world and invest in others.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>JohnWhigham</author><text>&lt;i&gt;If there’s a lull in conversation they pull out their phones. &lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;I despise how this behavior has been completely normalized. Especially in the dating sphere. People putting their phones on the table to make sure they never miss notifications is just so fucking disrespectful to the people you&amp;#x27;re actually with.</text></comment>
<story><title>The pandemic has deepened an epidemic of loneliness</title><url>https://mcc.gse.harvard.edu/reports/loneliness-in-america</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>naravara</author><text>Doesn’t this depend on having friends who are off the internet too?&lt;p&gt;In the before times, I’d go to get drinks with friends and often found they were chronically distracted. If there’s a lull in conversation they pull out their phones. I go to the bathroom and come back and they’re swiping through Tinder.&lt;p&gt;I got married before the dating apps got popular so I never went down that particular rabbit hole, but I feel like they’ve severely damaged people’s ability to pay attention to where they are and who they’re with.</text></item><item><author>JKCalhoun</author><text>All I can think: turn off the internet.&lt;p&gt;Internet in the morning. Have your coffee, catch up on the news, your social.&lt;p&gt;Then put the internet down for the rest of the day. Go out, ride a bike with a friend, go hike with a friend, go to a coffee shop, library....</text></item><item><author>jbrun</author><text>It&amp;#x27;s a bit paradoxical. I have a tech company and most staff want to come to the office 1 day a week. Getting them to come is very tough. Many of my staff and friends don&amp;#x27;t want to have kids, make no effort to find a partner and find all sorts of excuses. Netflix, the internet and these things are part of the problem, but I have no clue what the solution is. There is only one way to not be lonely - be with people who care about you. That requires an investment of time and of your emotions - something many people seem unable or unwilling to do. You have to get out into the world and invest in others.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>OneTimePetes</author><text>Everyone is at work.&lt;p&gt;In germany if you take a walk during the daytime your looked upon as a &amp;quot;slacker&amp;quot;.&lt;p&gt;Friends require to be condemned to boredom together.&lt;p&gt;Relationship require something called perspectives in life. 
Why produce spawn for a dieing world?&lt;p&gt;This is what you wanted in the 70s when you demonstrated for a &amp;quot;humanity&amp;quot; capable to hold back from environmental destruction.&lt;p&gt;Its a species of monks, waiting in their cells to dwindle to zero.</text></comment>