Healing the Loneliness Crisis

Rising one-person households, falling attendance of community gatherings, increased working from home.

Contemporary culture is missing its center, its heart. Loneliness, alienation, disconnection, separation - all facets and factors in the mental health crisis.

In a recent post, I discussed the US Surgeon General’s report, ?????? ???????????????? ???? ???????????????????? ?????? ??????????????????: ?????? ??.??. ?????????????? ??????????????’?? ???????????????? ???? ?????? ?????????????? ?????????????? ???? ???????????? ???????????????????? ?????? ?????????????????? (2023). In the report, US Surgeon General? Dr. Vivek H. Murthy calls on us, as a society, to find ways to reconnect.

This past week, the NY Times published “Why Is the Loneliness Epidemic So Hard to Cure?” In part, the article is a response to the US Surgeon General’s report and the efforts being made to meet the challenge posed by Dr. Murthy.?

“Many of the institutions and traditions that once held us together are less available to us or no longer of interest.” writes Matthew Shaer .

“Religious communities are a place… where there’s a fusion of a moral life and a spiritual life,” said Rick Weissbourd , a psychologist and lecturer at Harvard. “(W)e have to figure out how to reproduce those aspects of religion in secular life.”

Ian Marcus Corbin , a Harvard Medical School philosopher quoted in the article, sees “developments of ‘frictionless forms of interaction,’ like self-checkout displays or meal-delivery apps… as evidence of ‘cocooning’: a retreat into a digital world that provides everything you need except the thing you need the most… ‘meaningful connection’.”

At the same time, the article suggests that too many efforts to heal the loneliness epidemic involve a nostalgia for modes of intimacy that may no longer be applicable and ignore the ways people are adapting to technology.?

I would like to suggest that ethical use of technology must be part of the solution, but thoughtfully applied. The article hints at, but doesn’t fully acknowledge, the way previous attempts to use digital technology to bring people closer have had equivocal results at best. While certainly opening up new avenues, these technologies have exacerbated our isolation and alienation.

Yes, the path is forward, but forward with appropriate levels of humility and forethought. For more information, check out this post on the work Civilization Research Institute published on "authentic progress".

Shaer suggests at the end of the article, that we're going through a period of acclimatization. Perhaps, but the status quo is untenable. And here I'm not just talking about loneliness, but about the underlying drivers of it.

The older modes of social connection mentioned in the article are not merely nostalgia, they are essential to us being human, and they need to be reimagined.

Our passion at aNUma is technology-enabled services that foster a sense of the sacred, restore connections between people, and turn human beings back towards life. Not just via ethical use of technology, but according to a business model that recognizes the mistakes made by many social media companies, along with an appreciation of both the promise and the pitfalls of virtual reality.?

aNUma delivers meaningful connection. We've unlocked something special combining modalities from wisdom traditions with cutting edge technology. We're early in our journey, and still learning, but we're on a path to helping solve the puzzle of the loneliness crisis. Check us out.

www.anuma.com