Interesting Discussion: The economics of solitude and loneliness.

[Gerald Wilgus]

While economics is not a predictive science I follow it to see how economists see relationships in our world. Here is an article exploring the correlation between loneliness, isolation, and economic activity.
Alone and lonely: The economic cost of solitude | VOX, CEPR Policy Portal

 

[watersprite]

That is interesting, thanks @Gerald Wilgus .

“The ‘sweet spot’ seems to be large shares of the population meeting with friends, relatives, and co-workers on average on a weekly basis.”

I wish I had friends close-by/local. I have to be content with having lonly long-distance friends for now. I suspect more than a few are in the same situation.

 

[Markness]

That is interesting, thanks @Gerald Wilgus .

“The ‘sweet spot’ seems to be large shares of the population meeting with friends, relatives, and co-workers on average on a weekly basis.”

I wish I had friends close-by/local. I have to be content with having lonly long-distance friends for now. I suspect more than a few are in the same situation.

I have some local friends I made through pure luck. They just happen to enjoy or at least be respectful of geek/nerd culture. Most people in the culture I live in still think geeky/nerdy things are either “childish” at best and “Satanic” at worst. They still bully anyone who is different and think our interests is why we are depressed.

I really hope I will encounter a lonely geeky/nerdy girl who is looking for a lonely geeky/nerdy boy like me.

 

[Markness]

While economics is not a predictive science I follow it to see how economists see relationships in our world. Here is an article exploring the correlation between loneliness, isolation, and economic activity.
Alone and lonely: The economic cost of solitude | VOX, CEPR Policy Portal

I will read this when I get home from my walk in the park. This is an issue that’s often ignored or downplayed by society.

 

[Gerald Wilgus]

I have some local friends though pure luck. They just happen to enjoy or at least be respectful of geek/nerd culture. Most people in the culture I live in still think geeky/nerdy things are either “childish” at best and “Satanic” at worst. They still bully anyone who is different and think our interests is why we are depressed.

I really hope I will encounter a lonely geeky/nerdy girl who is looking for a lonely geeky/nerdy boy like me.

I hope that you will find that too. As I came out of my cage, I decided that my hobbies and interests, while being on the geeky/nerdy spectrum, were an expression of my enjoyment in the world, and eventually understood that if I was to encounter somebody who would accept me and my interests, I'd need to be open to a person who also enjoyed the world, whether through literature and the arts, or through activities. I hit the jackpot with my spouse.

 

[Gerald Wilgus]

But, back to the topic. Seems like a reasonable level of enngagement must keep people in a decent state of mind, so I wonder at societies that treat people as interchangeable and don't value them. I wonder at the economic hit that creates when quality of life issues are neglected?

 

[Au Naturel]

The amount of socialization a person needs varies from one person to the next, just as every other human trait varies. There's a bias towards the most typical level of need being what everyone needs. So, while this study may work for the average person it will not apply to people who are not in the middle of the hump of the bell curve for social need, those both at the high end of the need curve and at the low end.