What Loneliness Can Do To Those Experiencing It
This is an informative and educational video. Some highlights:
Being lonely and being alone are not the same thing.
Over the last two decades, loneliness has become chronic for millions. In the U.S., 46% of the population feels lonely regularly. In the U.K. 60% of 18 to 34-year-olds say they often feel lonely.
When someone is lonely they have the propensity to focus on negative things.
When someone is lonely they might assume the worst of others' intentions towards them.
Loneliness is twice as deadly as obesity and as deadly as smoking a pack of cigarettes a day.
Once it becomes chronic, it can become self-sustaining. Physical and social pain use common mechanisms in our brain. Both feel like a threat and so social pain can lead to immediate and defensive behavior.
When loneliness becomes chronic the brain goes into self-preservation mode. It starts to see danger and hostility everywhere.
Some studies found that when you're lonely your brain is much more alert to social signals while at the same time it gets worse at interpreting them correctly. You pay more attention to others but you understand them less.
The part of your brain that recognizes faces gets out of tune and becomes more likely to categorize neutral faces as hostile which makes it distrustful of others.
There's more. (12½ minutes)
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9 comments
Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.The loneliness/aloneness difference is something I've grappled with for a long time. I used to feel they were the same, when they're not. Loneliness isn't so much about having to have more connections, but about the QUALITY of your connections. So when I'm alone, I don't automatically feel lonely.
bleurowz
Level 8
Feb 18, 2019
0
It is an interesting video and I agree in varying amounts with everything said here. However, there is a statement made in it that is just not true. Not everyone feels lonely at times. I have never felt lonely and it is highly doubtful that I'm unique. I enjoy being connected and don't feel in the least bit disturbed by being in the presence of others. On the obverse of that coin, I have been alone for extended periods and never once felt the need for company. I don't know why this is, but I suspect part of it is because my mind is always in high gear and as a result I am constantly occupied by one thing or another.
evidentialist
Level 8
Feb 18, 2019
0
Just watched another "Adam Ruins Everything" video and the topic was prisons. It was shown that solitary confinement was once considered cruel and unusual punishment and banned. Now that private incarceration has become an industry it is used on a regular basis often to an extreme. More and more we are turning a blind eye to torture and the simple idea of putting away from others has been shown to be an extreme torture.
JackPedigo
Level 9
Feb 18, 2019
1
@VictoriaNotes Everything mentioned in the report was covered in the video. It was said prison is (was) once centered on reforming the inmate and making them more able to exist in society. Since privatization just the opposite has happened. Remember, companies are about growth and the bottom line.
I believe and understand every word in your link. Thanks again.
@VictoriaNotes This only reinforces the video and this is an obscene situation. We are so backward in very many ways. We are not the "great" country we claim to be. Unfortunately, we are consumed with so many other issues I doubt this one will get much traction. As you may know there is now a regular piece in the Humanist from someone in prison that deals with the problems and abuse of not being a Christian. Of course this tendency of having to bow to pressure to be a Christian shows that it's mostly Christians that commit crimes.
This video was made by "a small team who want to make science look beautiful." They don't seem to say who they are or anything about their credentials. They mention research studies, but don't say anything about who did them or where they were published. Do you have any more information than I could find? Otherwise I find it hard to give it any credibility.
Stephanie99
Level 8
Feb 18, 2019
0
@VictoriaNotes I constantly have that problem and I have found adding an extra space helps.
@VictoriaNotes Thanks so much for taking the time for such a thorough answer.
@VictoriaNotes And now I see that I just needed to click on the "more" button in the video description. Sorry about that.
Ohferpetesake... did they Only interview 55-year-old men living in mom's basement to reach these conclusions? Pretty dire stuff!
AnneWimsey
Level 9
Feb 18, 2019
0
It's probably just evolution weeding out the weak. Perhaps social workers aiding the lonely are prolonging the lives of people who have nothing to contribute to society.
brentan
Level 8
Feb 18, 2019
0
We do and I think it's because of Christian doctrine. I wonder should we let go of those ideas and go back to survival of the fittest.
I think that's a fine comment. I had chosen to take a theoretical approach to see how it would fly and you came back with an excellent individual response.
That's why religions use shunning as a punishment.
rogueflyer
Level 8
Feb 18, 2019
1
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