Alone

I read something recently that was an eye opener concerning loneliness.  It is commonly accepted our society is more connected than it has ever been.  There are many good things about technology.  I know I love being able to look something up and get information without leaving my desk.  I love being able to see what friends are up to.  I love the speed at which I can converse on a subject in real time.
Yet when it comes to relationships it seems social media is a poor substitute for in person relationships.  What the article in Phycology Today said is we tend to snack on relationships using social media.  I had not thought of it in those terms before, but it makes sense to me.
 Snacks satisfy a hunger but cannot be lived on.  Proper meals are lived on.  Proper meals are “in person” relationships.  There is something about being face to face where body language, eye contact or its lack, says heaps that cannot be detected by words on a page.
In 2024 there was a “Root of Loneliness” project that discovered that in Australia 62% of young adults are lonely as are 46% of seniors.
It is amazing.  Someone called Roger Patulny, an associate professor of sociology at the University of Wollongong in Australia found that social media tends to both increase and decrease loneliness.  The reason for the apparent contradiction is that for socially active people social media is a way to “enhance meaningful relationships” and make new contacts.  The problem is, some are inclined to use social media as a substitute for real life interactions.
So it seems like so much, it is not the media that is the problem, but the way it is used.
The statistics speak for themselves.  One of the reasons loneliness is rife is the attempt to substitute it for real one on one relationships.  Gleaning hundreds of friends on social media can disguise no friends.
It is one of the reasons why I will attempt to get close to anyone who makes the effort to socialize just by turning up.  I do not want my behaviour to reinforce the mistaken belief that no-one really cares.  It does take effort.  It does take me out of my comfort zone.  But others left their comfort zones for me.