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by _8j50 2523 days ago
In my experience no human is ok with being socially isolated for a long period of time. But difficulty with forming healthy social relationships makes the experience of attempting to "warm up" to others very unpleasant to people who don't get social exposure to begin with. Especially for anyone that performs extensive introspection it is very difficult and the experience can be interpreted as unhappiness.

I think maybe being with others is most pleasant when one has a healthy relationship with one's self.

3 comments

>In my experience no human is ok with being socially isolated for a long period of time

Citation needed.

There was an article on HN a couple of weeks back about a guy who spent 20+ years alone in the woods and was perfectly happy for it.

>> In my experience no human is ok with being socially isolated for a long period of time

> Citation needed.

for their experience?

It's a bit incongruous to talk about "all humans" when you haven't experienced them all. Asking for a citation is asking for a justification for this generalization, not for a citation about the experience itself.

I mean, if the argument was "no human I've met can stand being alone for long periods of time", the obvious problem is selection bias: you don't meet people who like being alone.

Talk about straw-man. I never said "no human i've met",you interjected that to make yout argument. I did generalize but you seem to be missing what i was trying to say.

To rephrase: based on my own experiences I don't believe a human can achieve inner peace and happiness without at least some social contact once in a while.

I'm not even arguing with you, let alone constructing a straw man to argue with. I'm simply explaining why an explanation that justifies a belief is appropriate here. I don't care what you believe, I care why you believe it.
> I think maybe being with others is most pleasant when one has a healthy relationship with one's self.

I don't agree with the rest of your points, but the quoted one is key.

No studies to back this up, but I would say that you are decidedly better off being alone than being with (for lack of better word) evil people.

These are degrees of evil that seem to be tolerated but that's another topic.

In the end, it's literally all in our minds. It's technically in our control (balance of chemicals). Maybe we should devise a way to control them sentiently.

I prefer my own company than others. Most days I was isolated, until I found my wife. But now we just isolate ourselves.

I haven't seen friends or family in months. There was a 5 year period where I didn't see anyone.

Time just goes by, and I'm so wrapped up in my own life that I don't notice.