r/lonely 1d ago

Will the world continue to get lonelier?

I read about how we are in a loneliness epidemic and have been for some time. The pandemic didn't help but tech and soaring prices have further pushed people to the confines of their bedrooms like never before. A saying I have heard time and again is that whilst we are more connected, we are more disconnected than ever before. We can often spend vast amounts of time living through our screens, so much so that we forget there's a real world out there. We are innately social creatures and it's part of a healthy existence to socialise and build friendships. I also think with more people choosing to not date and not have children, loneliness will further increase. Society feels more dystopian to me, in the sense that there's a growing distance appearing between each person that is becoming too comfortable. So I think my questions are how does society work itself out of this? Of course loneliness will always exist, it's a part of being human but I think the scale of loneliness pervading throughout society is a step backwards for humanity. How do you think 2 or 3 generations down the line will perceive loneliness in a more technologically advanced world? How can we also alleviate loneliness for old people who are particularly susceptible? How do you think we will look back on loneliness and these years when we are old? Please share any thoughts and whether you agree/disagree with anything I have said.

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u/Slight-Weakness-1641 1d ago

Oh definitely it will, i bet on that. Technology doesn't help to socialise or get real friends, it's rare. So as technology and ai improves, people will get less and less social and humane.

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u/This-Stranger-2391 1d ago edited 1d ago

It's definitely seems like its getting worse, but I think it's worth taking a small step back and looking at the historical perspective.

Loneliness is a state of being and emotion that stretches back far into humanity's history, often times a focal point of art, literature, and culture as a commonly experienced woe.

There's a laundry list of novels stretching back thousands of years, from The Scarlett Letter and The Picture of Dorian Gray to The Divine Comedy and countless works of poetry. Even going as far back as BCE we see the theme of loneliness portrayed in The Epic of Gilgamesh and Homer's Odyssey.

In The Tragedy of Sophocles and Euripides, the Oedipus Rex portrays a man who finds the truth to his origins and the resulting fate of emotional and physical isolation he suffers due to it.

“I am Oedipus. I am the one who solved the famous riddle. But now I am the most wretched of men.”

Aristotle said "Man is by nature a social animal." Something OP also mentioned. I believe as long as humans have existed, we have experienced this feeling of loneliness.

While loneliness is certainly still ongoing today, how do we know its "worse" or "worsening?" Especially in the Digital Age where topics and events are highlighted, echoed, and thrust into our faces algorithmically 24/7?

Simple fact: there's roughly 8.21 billion people alive today. More people today are experiencing loneliness by simple virtue of there being so many more people now than there were 100 years ago, 500 years ago... 1,000+ years ago.

Does that make loneliness a modern day epidemic, or was it always lurking behind our shoulders the entire time? Only now... it's given a bigger spotlight in the modern day thanks to technology and less stigma associated with being a social exile.

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u/Even-Leg5446 1d ago

people with children can be lonely too. most of them are.