This is one of the downsides of losing our religion (REM has entered the chat). Churches used to provide a community for people to combat loneliness. We've replaced this sense of community with... well, nothing really.
And yet, no alternatives have been offered.
Religion is a mythic lens through which to view reality, a framework of archetypes to superimpose on a chaotic world, to make it feel more comprehensible, and thus safer. For many they can reach a sense of safety by communing with others about the recognizable values and behaviors of their favorite fictional characters.
Now you don't even have to know the people you're talking to, because you can assemble in pseudonymous fanbase forums to find that community. You see it in everything from K-pop Twitter to Star Wars reddit.
To me, the difference between the two is analogous to the difference between fluorescent light and sunlight.
This is a thread about social sickness, and I think the conflation here identified is close to the root of our problems, likely compounded by the sedentarity and lack of sunlight that comes with the consumption-based lifestyle.
That being said, what alternatives does anyone have nowadays? If you're a mile deep into a subdivision and you haven't yet earned your driver's license, good luck getting any meaningful socialization outside of video games, chat servers, and comments sections. This creates patterns of behavior in early life and adolescence that ossify into your default lifestyle habits into your old age. By now enough longitudinal studies have been done to know "your personality develops when you're a teenager" is a reasonable heuristic for understanding the inertia of the problem.
... And the people bowed and prayed To the neon god they made And the sign flashed out its warning In the words that it was forming And the sign said, "The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls In tenement halls" And whispered in the sounds of silence
https://books.google.com/books/about/Bowling_Alone.html?id=r...