It didn’t used to be. At least for me and i don’t recall constantly seeing posts on social media about how lonely and sad everyone was or how to make friends. Now every other magazine article is about how lonely everyone is, nobody gets together, and gen Z doesn’t socialize, drink, or have sex.
Why is there such an epidemic of loneliness and why are people content to be lonely rather than socialize?
Why is so hard to connect? Because people having nothing in common anymore? I used to connect with people over books, movies, hobbies, etc. But now it feels increasingly hard to do that. Most folks I meet don’t care about any of that, they just mostly complain about their lives to you or go on political rants about how unfair the world is.
My friends and my dates no longer seem to watch films, or do much of anything other than spend time on social media? I dont’ use social media so I’m pretty ignorant of it all.
I’m not going to say to go build something. The last 10 years has made anything hobby related incredibly expensive. Fabric. Wood. Paint. Even garden supply. They’ve priced out most people.
Day hiking though, that can be free or cheap. Hearing and smelling are underrated. Get away from the music reminiscent of old school TV commercial advertising that has infused most of social media and YouTube. Smell trees. I’m not saying lean in like it’s a flower. If you day hike, you will notice the nice smells. ASMR sounds are, I think, based on nice sounds you hear while walking: dirt and pine needles under your shoes, leaves rustling in the breeze, etc.
And it’s free. Like a library card. So go take advantage.
i love to hike and go to the library. it is very analog. i borrow DVDs and books. i enjoy how ‘random’ it is to stumble across something totally unexpected.
most people i am meeting nowadays think that is ‘weird’. they are turned off by both things, actively for some reason. the library is mostly very young kids, high school, parents, or old people. very few 20-40 something people.