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Tech and social media are making us feel lonelier than ever:
You've had a social day. Two hundred Facebook friends posted birthday messages, your video of Mr. Meow shredding the toilet paper stash got dozens of retweets, and all the compliments on your latest Instagram selfie have you strutting with an extra swagger. Still, you can't help but notice an ache that can only be described as loneliness.
That we feel this way even when hyperconnected might seem like a contradiction. But the facts are clear: Constant virtual connections can often amplify the feeling of loneliness.
"Internet-related technologies are great at giving us the perception of connectedness," says Dr. Elias Aboujaoude, a Stanford University psychiatrist who's written about the intersection of psychology and tech. The truth, he says, is the time and energy spent on social media's countless connections may be happening at the expense of more rooted, genuinely supportive and truly close relationships.
If virtual socializing cannot substitute for the real thing, will social media prove out to be nothing more than a fad of the late 20th and early 21st centuries?
(Score: 3, Funny) by acid andy on Friday June 19 2020, @12:06PM (1 child)
Wow, I totally feel ya!!!1! You just made a friend for life!
I tried to add you as a Friend but evil, cruel SoylentNews told me Sorry, this is not an option [soylentnews.org]. : (
Their overly diligent validation is even polite enough to say the same message if you submit a friend request with uid 1 to the server.
If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday June 19 2020, @01:58PM
It seems to me that groping people can only be done effectively in real life. Online is a poor substitute, IMO.
TSA would agree.
The people who rely on government handouts and refuse to work should be kicked out of congress.