[jdkee]

"Loneliness is a health threat in the western world, and the UK even has a dedicated minister to address the problem. How to solve it, of course, is a huge challenge, but encouraging people to get out and socialise over a few beers or a bottle of wine at the village pub may be a good place to start."

Proximity, unplanned encounters and the privacy to confide with someone have been identified as key factors in making friends as an adult.[cite] I find it unfortunate to read about the closing of so many neighborhood pubs in England over the past decade or so.

[lazyjones]

One has to wonder why even the author states specifically that loneliness is a problem in the "western world". Isn't it a problem elsewhere and if so, why? What does it really correlate with? Longer lifespans, smaller families, peace and security, wealth?

[coldtea]

>One has to wonder why even the author states specifically that loneliness is a problem in the "western world". Isn't it a problem elsewhere and if so, why?

Because other places have stronger social and family bonds (Africa, Asia, Latin America). Exceptions is the West and very westernized societies in Asia (e.g. Japan).

It's partly cultural (e.g. protestant cultures being more impersonal), partly because of necessity (you need more family/friend support in less developed countries), and partly because of the development model chosen (or imposed onto people) which sacrifices personal and social time and binds for productivity and consumption. Where western style productivity has not been applied (e.g. in vast expanses of global rural areas, non-factory cities, slower economies, etc), even the poor have plenty of social time. When that has been eroded and people are forced to factory work, sweatshops, or worse (mines etc), that drops closer to zero.

Quite a lot of social time was the norm in the west too, both in the pre-industrial past, and when a middle class emerged that overcame the Dickensian working conditions (e.g. sometime before WWII, up until some point in the 70s - late 80s or so. Thank neoliberalism/globalization for the changes...).

[C14L]

[citation needed]

[coldtea]

[fieldwork and reading up required from the reader]

[C14L]

So you made it up and then downvoted me for asking for a source? Oh well.

[coldtea]

No, I summed up my informed observations and readings (having lived and worked in a few continents for some chunks of time), and downvoted the cliche Reddit-like "citation needed" content-less response.

If you have your own observations, or opinion, or point of view, or counter data, or some citation you'd like to share, please do so. I've written mine.

[maxmunzel]

Maybe because the author lacks access to non-western cultures and doesn’t want to make unbaked claims? I’d personally had a hard time getting a feel for African/Eastern/etc societies.

[Guthur]

It's also unfortunate that what was once a perfectly accessible skill for most to build relationships without substance abuse seems to be a requirement in later life.

[travbrack]

Not all use is abuse

[blackflame]

I think one of the biggest causes of loneliness is over sharing. We as humans respond more readily to negative stimuli than positive reinforcement. Therefore if a person has two opinions, one we agree with and one we don’t, we’re not likely to be overly excited about our compatibility. As we share and learn more about people than ever before, not all the things we discover we like. The chances of ruining a friendship because of ones beliefs are greatly increased because of 1) Social Media = Larger audience 2) More sharing = more reasons to dislike someone that might otherwise have gone unnoticed.

On the bright side, your close friends are likely to be even closer than how friendships existed in the past

[dirtyid]

Religion / ecclesiastical institutes also served that purpose. There's many meetup tools, really no reason to still depend on pubs anymore. If you need alcohol as social lubricant, take a few shots, bring a (discreet) flask.

I know there's other aspects to bar culture that's more conducive to forming relationships for some people, but I also think the reason why "local" pub culture is dying is because people finally have alternative options, though no doubt many of those options are solitary activities. Though I'm not convinced loneliness is bad in itself, or social drinking is necessarily the antidote. Plenty of people getting worse in misery loves company situations.