tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post1441389421698506264..comments2024-03-27T03:19:11.216-04:00Comments on Assistant Village Idiot: LonelinessAssistant Village Idiothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01978011985085795099noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-87032727717822656772019-08-28T05:42:57.080-04:002019-08-28T05:42:57.080-04:00@ Donna B - Hmm. Increased freedom to take the ea...@ Donna B - Hmm. Increased freedom to take the easier path? Westerners do support increased choices, but we are also good at pretending there aren't as many consequences as we claim. I've done that many times.Assistant Village Idiothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01978011985085795099noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-34089155601898903722019-08-27T23:59:17.893-04:002019-08-27T23:59:17.893-04:00Look, there's an elephant! Birth control and &...Look, there's an elephant! Birth control and 'sexual revolution'.Donna B.https://www.blogger.com/profile/16771075314473811594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-85032193368920428012019-08-27T22:36:20.460-04:002019-08-27T22:36:20.460-04:00How often has there been this kind of population d...How often has there been this kind of population decline before? Regional famines would do it, but I'd guess that the survivors would try to migrate rather than continue to endure famine for a couple of generations.<br />Rome's population went into decline in the West, but we don't seem to have detailed numbers about what happened to people. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demography_of_the_Roman_Empire<br /><br />I suspect there's a vicious cycle with loneliness, just as there may be one (as you pointed out earlier) with having fewer siblings correlating with wanting fewer children.jameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01792036361407527304noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-38729984171914038452019-08-27T17:39:05.245-04:002019-08-27T17:39:05.245-04:00@ Unknown - One-child policy for two full generati...@ Unknown - One-child policy for two full generations. Japan and Italy have done much the same, averaging 1.2 children per woman over the same period. No one in those places has uncles, aunts, or cousins. The words have lost their meaning. Not that no one knows what they are, but that the whole culture in which those eccentric, disreputable, sympathetic, rich, affectionate, infuriating, or rescuing individuals who have a definite tie to you that neither of you created but has reality - disappears from the world.<br /><br />The idea of Italian families with no uncles, aunts, and cousins is completely foreign to the stereotype of my youth. It must be a different culture entirely in just two generations.Assistant Village Idiothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01978011985085795099noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-23629952254359139592019-08-27T15:25:03.203-04:002019-08-27T15:25:03.203-04:00One thing that didn't come up in that analysis...One thing that didn't come up in that analysis is the intersection of generation and age or stage of life. Using quoted birth years, the oldest Millenials are just under 40, oldest Gen Z about 22. By contrast the oldest Boomers are passing 75, and my Gen X cohort are nearing 60. Both Millenials and Gen Z are in stages of life that are marked by a lot of upheaval and possible divergence from prior friends - relocating for school and jobs, marriage (and possibly divorce), children being born. They are also, if I remember studies correctly, in the decades of life where people report being the unhappiest. I'm not too surprised that many might feel they have few friends because they are at the point in life when existing friendships might be broken.Christopher Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00396671757183163171noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-76733956493508700242019-08-27T14:09:50.451-04:002019-08-27T14:09:50.451-04:00Forgive me if I ramble tangentially for a moment.
...Forgive me if I ramble tangentially for a moment.<br /><br />I recently skimmed an article where a Chinese student talked about things that surprised him once he came to America. One of these was how much more important family was to the Chinese than it was to Americans.<br /><br />I had two responses to that. First was "duh, filial piety has been a big part of their culture for several thousand years, of course family is important to them."<br /><br />But then, I thought about one of my grad school classmates who was from China. She told us about her family one day and after she listed ALL of her uncles, aunts, cousins nieces and nephews, grandparents, etc, I thought to myself, <i>that's barely more than a dozen people; Thanksgiving dinner at my parents' house - even if only half of the children and grandchildren are able to come - is still at least TWICE as large as any family gathering she's ever been to.</i> I still can't ever think about that classmate without feeling just a little bit of loneliness-by-proxy.<br /><br />I know there's more to loneliness than just family, but I can't fathom that the decrease in family size and importance in our society can have any effect other than to worsen any and all factors of loneliness.Thos.https://www.blogger.com/profile/09562836622083001506noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-66162940405171244792019-08-27T13:35:06.796-04:002019-08-27T13:35:06.796-04:00I don't do Facebook or Twitter. I guess that ...I don't do Facebook or Twitter. I guess that makes me an anti-social-media person.Sam L.https://www.blogger.com/profile/00996809377798862214noreply@blogger.com