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The Friendship Problem
The reason it’s so hard for my wife and me to find an hour in the week for a serious conversation, or for me and my three closest friends to meet for a beer, isn’t usually that we “don’t have the time,” in the strict sense of that phrase, though that’s what we may tell ourselves. It’s that we do have the time—but that there’s almost no likelihood o
... See moreOliver Burkeman • Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals
American society’s extreme individualism, electronic financial system, and thoroughly impersonal consumer retail setup mean that most adults can obtain 99% of their essential needs without real social networking of any kind. The system we live in is established mostly on impersonal trust. Every ordinary product or service in America is available wi... See more
The Decay of Adult Friendship in America.
Harriette found that although some friendships fizzled without Facebook, others got stronger. The people who really wanted to spend time with her—or who she really wanted to see—found ways to contact her by phone, email, or text.
John Zeratsky • Make Time: How to focus on what matters every day
For most people, loneliness doesn't stem from a lack of friends. It comes from not feeling connected to the friends you already have, while "peering in" on their lives via social media. (You can read more about this in the ancient text Big Friendship.) This problem is not fixable if you expect community to just happen naturally . It is fixable if y... See more