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by andai 20 days ago
There are still lots of social people. I found a lot of people actually do want to talk but are just shy.

I spent a few weeks at a hostel last year. It was always kind of depressing and tense in the shared kitchen, just this heavy silence.

I don't feel comfortable around strangers, so I solved that problem by just saying hi to everyone.

Most people didn't respond much, although most of them smiled and the tension was eased. But a few of them struck up conversation and we ended up making friends.

I ended up making like, ten new friends in two weeks. And then a bunch of them ended up becoming friends with each other as well.

1 comments

This is an individual solution to a systemic problem. On a personal level, it is possible to solve such problems, but generally no, the ship has sailed quite some time ago (I personally think cars are to blame).

Even if you do it, you are still swimming against the current.

>This is an individual solution to a systemic problem. On a personal level, it is possible to solve such problems

I.e. it's only a problem if you're not willing to go and strike up conversations with people. Which is not AI or mobile phones' fault. Expecting society to come up with "systemic situations" to your personal problems is a fast path to a lifetime of disappointment.

> it's only a problem if you're not willing to go and strike up conversations with people.

It is not a problem if there are other people willing to also go and strike up conversations with people. That is why GP wrote that it is a systemic problem that can be solved on a personal level.

> Expecting society to come up with "systemic situations" to your personal problems is a fast path to a lifetime of disappointment.

It is not a personal problem. It is a systemic problem. Are you conflating on purpose or do you not understand the difference?

And it is a systemic problem, all you need to do is look at the data.