This is a special “holiday” edition of my loneliness series. I use the famous sociologist Emile Durkheim, and his theories on rituals to give advice on dealing with loneliness.
Most people in Western society see diversity – racial, religious, sexual – as a positive. I am one of those people. But I want to talk about what happens to individuals in diverse societies. I believe that, despite the benefits, diversity leads to less real connections between people.
In this installment of my series on social isolation and loneliness, I talk briefly about research on social media and the links to isolation. In short, social media often fools people into thinking that they are having “real interactions”. At the end I give two life hacks that can be used to build relationships.
In the first conversation in this series, I speak with Michelle Lyttle Storrod of Rutgers University about how gangs use social media for expressive and instrumental purposes.
