Discussion Is loneliness actually detrimental to health?

[innominesatanas44]

It never occurred to me that to make friends its about having the same interests that you bond over together. It made me realize that I've been alone for a long time, nearly a decade. At some point I became more oriented toward my personal interests and forgot about socializing. I'm not sad about being a loser since I can substitute the need for socialization easily via internet, but I am worried that it is possibly having averse effects on my brain and my perception of the world. I don't personally believe loneliness is bad if you are a young person, what is bad for you is boredom and lack of purpose. I think people just convince themselves that they "need" relationships.

 

[Sad_Autistic_boy_101]

It's difficult. I think the reason varies but I do believe that people need some sort of interaction even if it isn't in the form of friendship. Me for example, I don't have any friends and I don't mind this. I find friendships confusing because of my Autism and much prefer to do things on my own like building Lego - however I've spent the past 5 years not leaving my house which results in loneliness. When I have support workers come, then I feel a little better because it's a bit of interaction but I quickly deteriorate if I haven't seen them. So I would say friendships/ relationships themselves are not important but social interaction in some form is.

 

[sserafim]

Why do people need a purpose?

 

[ijustwishtodie]

I think that there are exceptions where loneliness doesn't hurt a person but it seems like loneliness does hurt people in the general case

 

[innominesatanas44]

Why do people need a purpose?

For me personally, I would rather be doing something than nothing because I find boredom to be the worst state humanly possible.

 

[Forever Sleep]

I'm actually kind of scared I will feel loneliness one day. I am alone but most of the time, I'm ok with it and actually prefer it.

But yes, some people I think are affected terribly by loneliness. I think we do have a tendancy to either be sociable or not. I guess that's learned behaviour but I know people who can't stand to be alone even for a short while. While others, like me actually feel the need to be alone to recharge our batteries.

I think the negatives of it means you are constantly absorbed with your own problems and own viewpoint. If that becomes negatively skewed, I think it can get to the point where you can't see the wood for the trees. It probably makes us more self absorbed and selfish too. I'm very selfish now. But sure- I think deep sadness and/or loneliness increases things like the stress hormone cortisol which can affect the heart.

Also, if you have been a sociable person. Or, even had a close relationship or even a close friendship which you lose somehow- I think loneliness encompasses grieving what you had. Or, even what you hoped for. Sometimes, I can get all melancholy wondering whether I could have turned out more normal or happier if I'd made or made more effort to keep relationships in life.

I've coincidentally just watched a film that had lots of scenes filmed in places I used to visit when I was young with family and friends who are no longer around. So, I've spent most of the evening crying. I guess that's loneliness in a way. To know I won't get those times back and to miss those people.

 

[derpyderpins]

It never occurred to me that to make friends its about having the same interests that you bond over together.

Commonly, but it's not necessary to share interests to connect with people.

It made me realize that I've been alone for a long time, nearly a decade. At some point I became more oriented toward my personal interests and forgot about socializing. I'm not sad about being a loser since I can substitute the need for socialization easily via internet, but I am worried that it is possibly having averse effects on my brain and my perception of the world. I don't personally believe loneliness is bad if you are a young person, what is bad for you is boredom and lack of purpose. I think people just convince themselves that they "need" relationships.

You're not a "loser" for being alone.

People are going to tend to develop better and have better mental health with real, in-person human relationships. Being touch starved is also a thing in addition to emotional support. It doesn't mean you "need" relationships to keep your heart beating, but unless you are an extreme outlier having personal contact, support, and kindness in your life is a positive thing. Over time, sure, someone may adapt to living without, but writing off human contact and thinking it could never benefit you is a defense mechinism rather than a logical conclusion.

 

[Agon321]

I hate to admit it, but loneliness is unfortunately harmful to us.
In the long term, a person needs another person.

Of course, nowadays we have the Internet, so we have easier access to other people.
Therefore you are not completely alone.
For example, now you have contact with people on this site.
Without any contact with another human being, you would go crazy very quickly.

Of course, the Internet cannot completely compensate for physical contact with another human being.
Sometimes you need to talk to someone.
Sometimes you have to joke with someone.

Very limited contact with other people may, for example, lead to social phobia.
It is a disease.

I know this because in the current situation I have very limited contact with other people.
I see changes in my behavior and worsening mental problems.

People need each other.

 

[LuvMeMusic]

It never occurred to me that to make friends its about having the same interests that you bond over together. It made me realize that I've been alone for a long time, nearly a decade. At some point I became more oriented toward my personal interests and forgot about socializing. I'm not sad about being a loser since I can substitute the need for socialization easily via internet, but I am worried that it is possibly having averse effects on my brain and my perception of the world. I don't personally believe loneliness is bad if you are a young person, what is bad for you is boredom and lack of purpose. I think people just convince themselves that they "need" relationships.

If I understood you correctly, you're not sad about being alone. Loneliness is usually used to describe the feeling of sadness caused by a lack of friends or company. If you're lonely, it can definitely be detrimental to your health. If you don't feel the need for any of that, it also won't affect you negatively.

 

[xinino]

In college, I didn't find anyone who had the same interest as me, but I talked to my peers but about their interest which are superficial to me and dull like " studying, football, religion ,normie stuff in general..", I reached a point where I stopped to talk to them, I think I lost my voice or smth for period of time and felt alone and robotic, but once I found people online who have same interest as me all over the world from Russian, turkey, France, UK, USA, Italy, Brazil, Egypt, not just that but have same feeling as me too. I also discovered people like me who lived in the past and died long ago, I literally never felt alone after that despite the fact that I never meet them in person.

I hate to admit it, but loneliness is unfortunately harmful to us.
In the long term, a person needs another person.

Of course, nowadays we have the Internet, so we have easier access to other people.
Therefore you are not completely alone.
For example, now you have contact with people on this site.
Without any contact with another human being, you would go crazy very quickly.

Of course, the Internet cannot completely compensate for physical contact with another human being.
Sometimes you need to talk to someone.
Sometimes you have to joke with someone.

Very limited contact with other people may, for example, lead to social phobia.
It is a disease.

I know this because in the current situation I have very limited contact with other people.
I see changes in my behavior and worsening mental problems.

People need each other.

I think loneliness is a modern disease, early humans didn't have language, I think they used body language to communicate, therefore, they had little entertainment dependency on each other. I still feel connections between humans around me without using language.

 

[cait_sith]

There are studies that people who live alone will die earlier. Of course it's bad for your health. I have been alone for very long time and falling apart.