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Loneliness is a serious public-health problem:
Doctors and policymakers in the rich world are increasingly worried about loneliness. Campaigns to reduce it have been launched in Britain, Denmark and Australia. In Japan the government has surveyed hikikomori, or "people who shut themselves in their homes". Last year Vivek Murthy, a former surgeon-general of the United States, called loneliness an epidemic, likening its impact on health to obesity or smoking 15 cigarettes per day. In January Theresa May, the British prime minister, appointed a minister for loneliness.
That the problem exists is obvious; its nature and extent are not. Obesity can be measured on scales. But how to weigh an emotion? Researchers start by distinguishing several related conditions. Loneliness is not synonymous with social isolation (how often a person meets or speaks to friends and family) or with solitude (which implies a choice to be alone).
Instead researchers define loneliness as perceived social isolation, a feeling of not having the social contacts one would like. Of course, the objectively isolated are much more likely than the average person to feel lonely. But loneliness can also strike those with seemingly ample friends and family. Nor is loneliness always a bad thing. John Cacioppo, an American psychologist who died in March, called it a reflex honed by natural selection. Early humans would have been at a disadvantage if isolated from a group, he noted, so it makes sense for loneliness to stir a desire for company. Transient loneliness still serves that purpose today. The problem comes when it is prolonged.
[...] A study published in 2010 using this scale estimated that 35% of Americans over 45 were lonely. Of these 45% had felt this way for at least six years; a further 32% for one to five years. In 2013 Britain's Office for National Statistics (ONS), by dint of asking a simple question, classed 25% of people aged 52 or over as "sometimes lonely" with an extra 9% "often lonely".
Other evidence points to the extent of isolation. For 41% of Britons over 65, TV or a pet is their main source of company, according to Age UK, a charity. In Japan more than half a million people stay at home for at least six months at a time, making no contact with the outside world, according to a report by the government in 2016. Another government study reckons that 15% of Japanese regularly eat alone. A popular TV show is called "The Solitary Gourmet".
[...] The idea that loneliness is bad for your health is not new. One early job of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in the Yukon region was to keep tabs on the well-being of gold prospectors who might go months without human contact. Evidence points to the benign power of a social life. Suicides fall during football World Cups, for example, maybe because of the transient feeling of community.
But only recently has medicine studied the links between relationships and health. In 2015 a meta-analysis led by Julianne Holt-Lunstad of Brigham Young University, in Utah, synthesised 70 papers, through which 3.4m participants were followed over an average of seven years. She found that those classed as lonely had a 26% higher risk of dying, and those living alone a 32% higher chance, after accounting for differences in age and health status.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by DannyB on Monday September 10 2018, @03:53PM (21 children)
The original purpose of penitentiaries was so that people could comtemplate, reflect, or pray.
Now we have the isolation, combined with loud noisy blinking animated lights all around us to give the illusion of excitement. And drugs of all kinds.
People should be happier than ever.
The problem is on the inside. It always was. In every age.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday September 10 2018, @05:19PM (20 children)
If you don't take them back to their earlier incarnations, maybe. Imprisonment started out as "you're a piece of shit and deserve to suffer for what you've done" though.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday September 10 2018, @06:11PM (16 children)
Yes, prisons and penitentiaries were for prisoners.
IMO, rehabilitation should be favored, when possible, over punishment. There are no doubt many cases where this is not possible. But then in cases where rehabilitation is not possible, why should such people ever be released? Especially if they are a danger to themselves or others.
I wonder how much crime is driven by mental illness of some form? (Possibly a physiological illness, not environmental.)
All that said, there are some people that I must admit having an instinctive knee jerk reaction of "you deserve to suffer" attitude towards.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 3, Informative) by suburbanitemediocrity on Monday September 10 2018, @06:19PM (7 children)
I bet it would be quite a bit. But you can't lock someone up for being mentally ill and you cannot force them to take medication against their will. Just read about fetal alcohol syndrome and the problems it causes and lack of ability to do anything about it.
https://www.fasworld.com/fasd-facts/ [fasworld.com]
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday September 10 2018, @06:33PM (3 children)
If it were possible to fix all the world's problems, we would have done it already.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 2) by suburbanitemediocrity on Monday September 10 2018, @06:49PM (1 child)
Some problems may be unfixable and we could be wasting huge amounts of resources trying to fix them.
Per the article I linked:
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday September 10 2018, @08:44PM
Kneejerk reaction: put all the lonely people together in a room.
:-)
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 11 2018, @12:06AM
Bullshit. We have enough food to feed the current world's population, and yet many die of hunger.
I s'pose you want me to conflate the notion of possible with the one of willingness.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 10 2018, @08:37PM (1 child)
Yes, you can. In WA state, it's called "civil commitment". The pertinent state laws are full of loopholes. Ever seen the movie "House on Haunted Hill" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_on_Haunted_Hill_(1999_film))? WA state has two 'Vannacutt Institutes'; Eastern State & Western State hospitals.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 11 2018, @08:57AM
They have to be a danger to themselves or others. Mental illness is not sufficient.
https://mentalillnesspolicy.org/ivc/involuntary-commitment-concepts.html [mentalillnesspolicy.org]
(Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Tuesday September 11 2018, @10:06PM
No, we can't force anyone to take treatment except in extreme situations. But maybe, just maybe, we could make it available for those that want it?
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday September 10 2018, @08:20PM (2 children)
There are plenty of crimes without a significant recidivism rate, so no rehabilitation necessary but there do need to be consequences.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Tuesday September 11 2018, @03:56AM (1 child)
"There are plenty of crimes without a significant recidivism rate,"
Is suicide still a crime?
Very low recidivism rate for the successful. :)
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 3, Touché) by dry on Tuesday September 11 2018, @06:03AM
Unless you believe in reincarnation.
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Tuesday September 11 2018, @02:25PM (4 children)
http://criminal-justice.iresearchnet.com/crime/intelligence-and-crime/3/ [iresearchnet.com]
"The majority of studies have found IQ differences between offenders and nonoffenders (e.g., Ellis &Walsh, 2003). On average, the IQ for chronic juvenile offenders is 92, about half a standard deviation below the population mean. For chronic adult offenders, however, the average IQ is 85, 1 standard deviation below the population mean. A study of Texas inmates who entered the prison system in 2002 indicated that approximately 23% of the inmates scored below 80, almost 69% scored between 80 and 109, and only 9.6% scored above 110 (Ellis & Walsh, 2003)."
How do you "rehabilitate" the combination of low IQ (relevant as the inability to consider consequences) and poor impulse control??
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday September 11 2018, @04:36PM
If only we had Soma so the Deltas could stay focused on their work.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday September 11 2018, @04:37PM (2 children)
Publicly drop their pants and spank their bare ass with a ping-pong paddle for offenses that would normally carry less than a year of jail time. Hell, put it on YouTube too for that matter.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Tuesday September 11 2018, @06:29PM (1 child)
Probably work wonders with a certain age group.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday September 11 2018, @07:39PM
There's many thousands of years worth of evidence indicating such, yes.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 10 2018, @08:19PM (2 children)
Well, we are talking about criminals here. They really should be getting feedback from the rest of the world along the lines of "you're a piece of shit and deserve to suffer for what you've done". Just my $0.02.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 12 2018, @03:16AM (1 child)
These days it seems more like a holiday inn with optimal rape thrown in for the unlucky
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Wednesday September 12 2018, @03:50AM
Good ole autocorrect, it does make me laugh.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.