Episode 62 - "Separate Ways"

A global epedimic of loneliness is spreading rapidly. 20% of the UK population claims to be always or often lonely, 3 out of 4 people fin the US are affected by loneliness, a quarter of Japanese men over 60 don't have a single friend or family member they can talk to, and there is an alarming rise of youth across borders who are feeling joyless, useless, and alien in their own homelands. This is a growing health disaster: loneliness has been shown to significantly increase the risk of early death, heart disease, stroke, and much more. Medicine and the high tech industry are working on "loneliness pills" and other high tech software fixes, but we're increasingly afraid that they've missed the point and are wasting time chasing symptoms. This week we explore the systemic causes of why we all feel so alone and look towards a world where we make the dramatic shifts to our social insitutions, governments, economic relationships, and very culture so we can begin to repair the frayed seams of our great big collective family.

Chapters

• 00:31 Loneliness: Stats and Figures
• 09:36 Getting to the Source
• 14:39 America: Declining Social and Civic Engagement
• 20:25 America: Suburban Sprawl and the Commercialization of Social Life
• 25:49 China and the Big Money Machine
• 33:28 Japan: Relationless Society
• 38:41 Hikikomori
• 56:13 Individualism and Social Media
• 1:05:06 David's 5 Points to Get Your Life Together and Stop Loneliness in its Tracks
• 1:21:50 What Can We Do?

A full transcript is available as well as detailed links and sources (plus credits and more) on our website ashesashes.org.

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