Is this really a problem? I get the feeling that the male loneliness epidemic is more described by people about others than themselves. For my part, the world doesn't seem that way at all. I have many friends who live close by and who are a part of my life. We play basketball and poker and board games together. We go to nearby bars occasionally and to each others' homes regularly. We lift together though I haven't been good about keeping up with that.
And my apartment building is home to some 500 people, all of whom are quite normal. People borrow a spoon of yogurt or a USB cable, or ask for a jump start, or help with plumbing. It all feels very normal and about the right scale of human interaction. Considering all that, and that people generally report happiness, and that these things come and go without success we must conclude the whole thing is illusory like so many other Complaints About The Modern World.
It's great that you have a good social life, but calling this problem illusory based on just your anecdotal experience is just denying reality when you look at statistics:
> 52% of Americans report feeling lonely while 47% report their relationships with others are not meaningful
> 55% of London residents say they feel lonely
> Social isolation is a problem in Europe: 18% of its citizens, the equivalent of 75 million people, are socially isolated
> 43% of those aged 17-25 feel lonely and less than half of them feel loved
> The suicide rate for persons aged 10–14 [..] nearly tripled from 2007 to 2017
https://www.rootsofloneliness.com/loneliness-statistics
> Thirty years ago, a majority of men (55 percent) reported having at least six close friends. Today, that number has been cut in half. Slightly more than one in four (27 percent) men have six or more close friends today. Fifteen percent of men have no close friendships at all, a fivefold increase since 1990
https://www.americansurveycenter.org/why-mens-social-circles...
These all have the smell of “50% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck” type nonsense and there are sufficient counter findings that I don’t think there’s any good evidence here https://news.gallup.com/poll/470888/americans-largely-satisf...
I think I’m likely correct. This is a manufactured crisis like seed oils, or ADHD and autism diagnoses. Nothing is actually getting worse.
ADHD is caused by a defective gene involving the DAT1 transporter causing it to be overactive. This causes a deficit of dopamine that predominantly impacts the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (there are other parts impacted too, but this one is the most apparent). The brain compromises with novelty seeking behavior to rebalance the neurochemistry as a depression response, and this outwardly manifests as distractibility.
Don’t talk of things you have no clue about. Saying ADHD is “manufactured” is downright harmful. And yes, stimulants do treat it, and do so very effectively. I encourage you to learn more about it from Dr. Russell Barkley, the leading authority on the subject. He does well to dismantle the myths and stipulations and is very knowledgeable. He even has a youtube channel where he elaborately breaks down the studies in a way the common man can understand.
Nah, at the point where people with accommodations average better than people without on the LSATs I can tell what’s going on. It’s unsurprising that people on a high-grade stimulant do well on tests.
Besides I know better because I did the natural thing. I read the DSM V guidelines for diagnosing ADHD, provided the appropriate information, and got myself a diagnosis for it and a prescription for Adderall.
I’m sure you guys have all the theory-crafting but I did the thing. So if you guys think there’s suddenly a huge burst of people getting this illness in states that reward it, boy do I have a bridge to sell you.
One can be largely satisfied with their situation but still be lonely or just not particularly happy & fulfilled. Higher satisfaction with one's income can mean more loneliness because of work hours etc.
The number of births per woman has been declining for decades worldwide, in cases like South Korea it's collapsing massively. That has many reasons, but it's obviously linked to loneliness and relationships.
> This is a manufactured crisis like seed oils, or ADHD and autism diagnoses
More ADHD and autism diagnoses aren't a crisis, they're an improvement in detection and diagnosis and overall life quality of the affected people.
There's improved diagnosis but much of it is test fraud because students with accommodations score higher than the general population on most competitive tests like the LSATs. It's also why diagnoses are higher in states with more accommodations.
You can't extrapolate from your own experience in that way. There are billions of people having a different experience to you in a multitude of different ways.