Ask HN: In search of cure to a disease called loneliness... | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: In search of cure to a disease called loneliness...

6 pointsanujkk9 comments

This is my status on Facebook right now -

"I guess more than a dating site or social network, we people need something that can keep us away from spending time online. Facebook is not a solution, it is a symptom of disease called loneliness, affecting billions worldwide. :|"

Social networks, dating sites, chat rooms, virtual life all these are meant to socialize and be less lonely but I think they aren't helping in anyway. When I see people on facebook and other dating sites, I think of them as suffering from disease called loneliness and their online activities as symptoms. As the virtualization is becoming more and more prominent loneliness is growing many folds. Sites like facebook are designed in a way to keep people online for longer duration. In no way, facebook can compensate for real world socializing.

As hackers, we should come forward with novel solutions for this problem, which is also our own problem. I believe there should be some kind of web application that encourages members to spend as little time as possible on itself, by finding opportunities for them to go out. Something like a local events and interest based social network where people find ways and partners to enjoy the REAL life by going out to events, movies, sports meet etc.

Share your ideas about a next generation social network that doesn't suck, that doesn't promote virtualization but mingles with the reality....or any other solution?

I'm not lonely IRL, and I find real value in online social networks.

My cousin has ME, and she is lonely. Online support groups have really helped. A friend of mine, who has been single for a while and I suspect quite lonely, is currently getting heavily laid because of Guardian Soulmates.

But I agree with the goal in a roundabout way - too much of my online time is un-productive - not informative in a useful way, not entertaining, and often emotionally and psychologically draining. I want to spend less time online too.

I put this up just today morning:

http://apps.ninjagod.com/app/hackersocial/

Nice initiative but I doubt it will succeed in its current state. I think it would be better to develop it on top of facebook's social graph. Anyway, I haven't fully conceptualized it yet. Let me know your feature list assuming that you can develop anything and not a minimal solution.

It's a 3-hour hack - built for the purpose of me meeting more hackers in the city.

The code is open source. Feel free to modify and I'll incorporate your changes. https://github.com/ninjagod/apps.ninjagod.com/

Thanks. I'll definitely look at that and try my best to contribute.

"Loneliness" and "aloneness" are two distinct and separate things. A person may enjoy aloneness using a computer to collaborate and do work without being lonely.

I agree but I'm sure most of the people on social networks use it due to loneliness and not aloneness, except those who use it for professional purposes.

I know anecdotes aren't data, but I use social networks primarily to avoid having to maintain active contact with acquaintances I'm expected to run into in the future. It lets me say "yeah, I heard about Dan's new house" when I talk to Jesse, for example, even if I don't really want to talk to Dan to find out about that. It's easier to lurk than it is to maintain active contact or actively break ties with said acquaintance (who may have done nothing worse than fail to be interesting enough for me to spend time on him).

I wouldn't say that counts as me using social networks out of loneliness. I'd probably name it social efficiency.

meetup.com

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