have kids

my social life got pretty busy once i had multiple kids in school and having to go to various events etc, and i have formed genuine friendships with many of the other parents

my “soulless suburb” has a much stronger sense of community than any big city neighborhood i ever lived in

Some people think loneliness is somewhat a result of stress and anxiety, it’s far from it. It is precisely the lack of pressure that makes them stay home. You need to apply as much pressure on them so that staying at home becomes unbearable.

My girlfriend built a web app for meeting up in small groups. I think it's going to be fun! It's not public yet but almost there. Let me know if you live around Stockholm (or Sweden perhaps) and want to beta test it!

Might want to read Bowling Alone[1] (or at least some commentary on it) and the "hunkering down" effect.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowling_Alone

Join local groups. Talk to and engage with your neighbours. Volunteer in your community.

joint families. In India those who have joint families – I live with siblings and parents in a multi-floor house with a floor for each sibling family. We party, visit temples and celebrate festivals/holidays together and don't need anyone else to join us. We also catch diseases together and help each other out during such times. It was conscious decision to remain together and not something we inheritted.

All the other comments are wrong. The only right answer is: “Your mom was right, it’s that damn phone (and TV).”

I was a big YouTube addict, and last year I did a full year of YouTube detox. I didn’t watch any videos at all, and my social life exploded. I was meeting new people every day, deepening my connections with old friends, and going to more social gatherings than ever before. By the end of the year, my only problem was that I had accumulated too many friends and acquaintances and didn’t have enough time for all of them.

So yeah, it’s that damn phone. And if anyone says otherwise, they’re wrong.

Have standing lunches/dinners/coffees or even facetimes with your friends. I do them monthly with most. If you need to cancel, so be it, but having it pre-scheduled helps tremendously.

there isn't a loneliness epidemic. There is a diffuse inability to stay truly alone. Acquiring that ability would also teach how to not stay alone when needed.

Otherwise, people wouldn't resort to social media. Going to party aimlessly and hanging out isn't necessarily better. It depends on who you hang out with and what you do.

This is just my opinion, of course.

social media should be studied deep and hard

just this week i was stuck with a machine i could use to log on websites, so I just browsed reddit anonymously, no profile, no suggestions, no "me" at all.. and it was delightful, suddenly I'm not here to respond or be heard and my brain went into focus mode, i was eager to read the article linked and not the comments.. very very refreshing

except for critical needs, we should go back to paid limited network access, this will make people allocate their time and attention much better and also do more things outside potentially meeting people