Loneliness and what we can do about it

[myturn]

I did my masters thesis on adolescent loneliness and extracurricular activities.... Found that kids who were less lonely were the ones that "hung out" with friends... Did social activities... Actually participating in formal activities didn't help.... I suspect it would be the same with adults... You actually have to interact with people. I think it's harder to do that in the modern world as we are so much more isolated from our community than the past (when I say community, I mean people we care about, rather than physical location).

I guess that means we have to be in contact with friends and family more. Actually reach out and connect.

[Floweryfields]

Lately I have been doing quite a bit of reading on single people and loneliness - there are a lot of lonely, particularly single women (but also men) in this world - especially once you hit the 35+ bracket. I can attest to this, and it doesn't get easier as you age, for me quite the opposite. It's a very hard one, because we all long to find someone to love us for us. Yes we can have friends, but it's just not the same thing. You still go home alone, you still have no one to share all of the mundaneness of life with as well as the fun stuff. And once you hit a certain age, you do feel like you are intruding on the family lives of your friends as well and people grow apart.

I don't really know what the solution is - I do find it quite fascinating though that in a world where we all can contact each other in the blink of an eye through a number of different means, we are a more lonely society than ever before.

[Artechim]

You know that amazing feeling when you call an old friend you haven't talked to in ages and chat for a couple of hours about nothing and everything? That reconnect that is just so good for the soul? But how often do I actually do it? I don't have that many good friends but I do have enough that I could call someone every week and keep in touch. What do I do instead? Sit at the computer/watch telly/read a book. And then complain that I am lonely.

It is true that life tends to take everyone further away from the friendships that we make, but with all the technology available we don't make use of it to keep in touch. DH and I were talking about this the other day - people used to write long letters to each other, which then changed to quick emails, and now it is just a one liner instant message or FB comment and we somehow think that is enough. Phones can still be used to ring people but for some reason we content ourselves with a text.

So my humble opinion is that we need to make an effort. There are people out there that care and would love to hear from you. Make a night of the week that is catch up night - arrange a cafe dessert meeting with a local friend or call someone. I can guarantee you that if you called they would love to talk and thoroughly enjoy it, but no one takes the initiative to do it so we all sit around lonely surrounded by our devices. Be proactive and be the one to call.

I think I will implement my plan starting tomorrow. I will let you know how it goes

[~TT40~]

For me personally...I feel less lonely when I interact with people in person vs msging and social media. So I make It a priority to make sure I have I person catchups with my friends. I'm fortuantly tho that I have a few mummy friends in my town that I can txt in the morning and invite around for a cuppa that day, and they do the same so I'm seeing them at least twice a week. And we only live a block or two from eachother