Social Media Friends, Loneliness Is Alive And Well

Enuma Okoro on Loneliness

Love these words and this article on loneliness from Enuma Okoro. You might just love them too.

In our age of social media, when new “friends” are a click away on Facebook and Twitter users actively form real-time communities around everything from favorite TV shows to breaking political news, we can easily be led to think that loneliness is an outdated phenomenon. But it is not.

…After all, being lonely is not necessarily about a-lone-ness, but about lack of intimate, meaningful connection. Intimacy comes from recognizing the value of vulnerability, that needing other people is not a sign of weakness but a mere fact of human existence. This necessary criteria for intimacy goes against our cultural conditioning to laud the self-made, self-sufficient person.

Read more from Enuma here.

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2 Comments

  • comment-avatar
    Warren Baldwin November 13, 2013 (12:53 am)

    Very true comments. I’m glad to be introduced to the writing of Enuma Okoro.

    Have you read the book, “Alone Together: Why we Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other” by Sherry Turkle? The blub on the back says, “Technology has become the architect of our intimacies.” An insightful read.

    WB

    • comment-avatar
      Sarah November 13, 2013 (10:23 am)

      Yes! I read that book and cited it in one of my previous books–I think, Dear Church. We must think alike, Warren!