+32 Humans thrive in tight social communities, the way we organize our current society is why so many of us struggle so immensely. amirite?

by ilangworth 1 year ago

I genuinely believe the reason why college is considered the best times on most peoples lives is because there were hundreds of clubs and communities to be involved in When you get into corporate life its so much harder to find a community and you need to actively search for connection

by Acrobatic-Wheel2697 1 year ago

I totally agree!! Funny enough this opinion has been formed by working in corporate then returning to college and experiencing the stark contrast!

by ilangworth 1 year ago

Also it's often one of the only times Americans get to live in a walkable community

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Explains why my uni life sucks; we literally have no clubs, at all.

by FreshCut6277 1 year ago

Yup, my university campus was dead. I tried signing up for clubs at orientation, but they never emailed me with anything. I joined a short film contest that got canceled because not enough people signed up. I tried going for after class drinks a few times at the campus bar, and me and the two guys from my class were the only ones there.

by Rkemmer 1 year ago

True. I feel like people working corporate jobs should make an effort to find communities outside of work to be involved in, even if it seems hard at first. Pottery class, book or garden club, even a gym, just anything that interests you, there are tons of options. It's such a great way to find friends you see regularly, actively engage in a hobby that fulfills you and do something other than binging Netflix and sleeping after work

by Anonymous 1 year ago

I miss having dinner with my friends every night and being able to do things together. It wasn't the best time of my life, but definitely less lonely.

by Tatebednar 1 year ago

You are goddamned right.

by Technical_Lecture33 1 year ago

I like this response a lot! I agree!

by ilangworth 1 year ago

While I agree having tighter knit communities will greatly increase our wellbeing, why do you frame constant learning as bad?

by Standard-Wafer-9729 1 year ago

How do you know who's unhappy?

by Anonymous 1 year ago

High rates of mental illness and suicide maybe?

by Marvin71 1 year ago

Is it true the highest rates of suicide come from countries in Africa?

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Just sentiment Idk much tbh haha, just a sentiment i fell that is all, it is awfully presumptuous to assume i know something like this I'll give you that!

by ilangworth 1 year ago

Join a community. I converted to Islam so I'm in a community with billions of people. I feel happy with life.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

I disagree. I think people keeping to themselves is a spiritual and cultural crises brought about by calculated design. I think it's the natural end point of societies that have tried so hard to erode social institutions and promote hyperindividualism. An easy litmus test is to compare countries of different cultures. The more sociallu oriented cultures are.... Well... The more social their people are.

by stacey86 1 year ago

The problem for me is the cars! I never felt so alone until I moved out of NYC. You literally don't see anyone unless they're leaving or entering their homes, or you're going to a mall.

by aiyana76 1 year ago

That may be the way we thrived in the past, but we will eventually adapt and evolve to our current conditions

by lenoreheaney 1 year ago

Tight social communities. You mean...like families?

by Significant_Mark 1 year ago

I agree with this and want to add that the huge focus on being individuals and access to so much information has also affected our ability to connect with others, because the odds of finding more than one mutual interest with someone goes lower the older we get. It's like we're all walking mosaics with unique patterns. And with everyone moving around a lot, it's hard for relationships to take real roots.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

I agree that community aspect is completely gone for a lot of people especially in cities it's a very for yourself mentality. We have too many options for things now and just so much going on that people don't really care about community. A lot of people think your close minded or haven't really experienced life if you lived your life in a small town that has a real community sense.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

I would tend to agree, not sure this counts as an unpopular opinion tho

by Anonymous 1 year ago

💯 agree as immigrant. A lot of issues would go away if there was more community in the U.S. I don't even know my neighbor's last name here.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

I actually don't mean communities through things like hobbies but i mean communities like growing up in a town, the community formed around small (several thousand$ groups of people who interact all the time. That combined with how we designed our work

by ilangworth 1 year ago

While i believe many of you will agree with this opinion it's obviously unpopular because of the structure of our society

by ilangworth 1 year ago

I agree, not unpopular

by Anonymous 1 year ago

So true, humans are social creatures, loneliness can literally cause a lot of harm. Tight knit communities are such a good example of how society works best, everyone knows each other, its way more rare to have an increased crime rate in small communities, especially good for families.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Not how evolution works.

by Secret-Bed-175 1 year ago

Oh my bad. Why dont you explain it so I understand?

by Anonymous 1 year ago

There aren't any heritable traits really being naturally selected in this case to help with unhappiness

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Im not so sure about that.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

We may advance technologically but there is no reason why we couldn't shift our focus to promoting the health of small and valuable relationships!

by ilangworth 1 year ago

I prefer the community and village of my choosing not random interactions. While humans need social interaction , not everyone needs what you're talking about. I don't enjoy small towns or nature. I like the city.

by hollie85 1 year ago

Yup. There are no more third places anymore.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Those who have strong social tie have 3rd 4th 5th ... places. Unfortunately here in the US we are lamenting loss of 3th place

by Anonymous 1 year ago

You have to pay for all of those things

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Western society is so isolating to me. Everyone is in their own group and it doesn't feel accepting at any level. It used to take a village, now parents and children are suffering from poor parenting and demanding jobs.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Right! It used to be the healthy interactions created through a large village working together now the entire burden is on 2 individuals which no matter how you look at it is insanely tough!

by ilangworth 1 year ago

Yessss. I appreciate that you realize that. I know I'm getting hate for saying the west is isolating, thats the euushe.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

I live in a conservative Arab society and we live in extended family units... Our entire neighborhood is just our extended family. Each couple has their own flat. Like my brother in law lives in the flat under ours... And my inlaws live on the ground floor. The other buildings in the neighborhood are the same setup built by my husband's uncles. It's an incredibly safe setup. You don't need police or children's services when you live like this. If anyone raises their voice you have people to intervene. If a kid gets hurt you have 20 people there to help. Our children get socialized incredibly well. There are literally 100 people to turn to if you need anything at all... From borrowing flour or eggs to needing a ride to the ER to financial issues to marital advice... Recipes... Just want to chat...anything at all really...you need a doctor or a pharmacist or a computer nerd... We have those too, and lots more. My children are so lucky that they grew up in this environment. They grew up in this environment so they naturally know how to navigate it and set healthy boundaries (which is something that I struggled with for a while). Regardless of the challenges, it really does feel like the optimal setup.

by Vivid-Hearing1176 1 year ago

It's weird that people say that. There is really no proof that life is supposed to be A or B, and some people will do well in A and some will do well in B, and some in C.

by Yostelena 1 year ago