Research Solitude alters the brain + Loneliness in U.S. adults linked with social media use

[C C]

The hidden burden of solitude: How social withdrawal influences the adolescent brain
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1099946

EXCERPT: Using brain imaging and behavioral data, Caterina Stamoulis, PhD, and her team in the Division of Adolescent/Young Adult Medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital have found that adolescents who are socially withdrawn or who frequently prefer solitude show measurable differences in brain structure and function. These results were published today in Cerebral Cortex... (MORE - missing details, no ads)

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Loneliness in U.S. adults linked with amount, frequency of social media use
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1100540

INTRO: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and similar platforms are apparently no antidote for the global loneliness epidemic, according to Oregon State University research that linked increases in social media use with a greater likelihood of feeling alone.

The study led by Jessica Gorman of the OSU College of Health, published today in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, featured more than 1,500 U.S. adults ages 30-70 and builds on a 2017 study by co-author Brian Primack that looked at young adults.

As in the previous study, two different measures of social media use – time and frequency – each correlated with loneliness; that is, many short “checks” are just as apt to be associated with loneliness as a few long sessions.

“I wasn’t sure if we would see as strong a relationship between social media and loneliness for 60-year-olds that we saw with 18-year-olds, but we did,” Primack said. “Those who were in the upper 25% based on frequency of social media use, compared with those in the lower 25%, were more than twice as likely to test as lonely.”

The findings have important public health implications, the authors say, given loneliness’ high cost to society. This is especially true because the study used survey weights to make the findings nationally representative of all U.S. adults... (MORE - details, no ads)

[Magical Realist]

“We confirmed that social isolation affects not only brain areas supporting social function but other processes as well,” Stamoulis explains. “Its association with widespread brain circuits suggests that social isolation may increase risk for mental health issues.”

I would welcome such risk just for the exquisite joy and privelege of not having to daily deal with people's drama and shit. The thing we become thru constantly socializing is not what I want to become. Chatty, superficial, and meddlesome. In truth solitude is not withdrawing from anything. It is simply our natural state of being alone with nothing but the universe and our unpretending selves. Something most people flee from like the plague.

[Syne]

^Incel hermit cope.

[Magical Realist]

You really get off on trying to insult people for no reason don't you? You know that says more about you than it does about me don't you?

[Zinjanthropos]

Maybe once everyone has a robot buddy or two then they won't be so lonely. Or will a robot just be a phone/tablet/PC that walks?

[Syne]

Maybe many humans are already alienated from what it means to be human. If people think AI is a sufficient replacement for human interactions, or robots/AI can be companions, maybe they've already forgotten... or never realized... what makes human interaction special. A lot of this is likely motivated by defensiveness against being hurt, and a neutered substitute for an actual, unpredictable human may then be preferred. If so, desiring these inhuman companions would be a sign of unhealed or immature emotions... which is usually only rectified through more human interaction.

The best thing about other people is when they don't do exactly as you expect. Otherwise, you might as well be talking to yourself in a mirror... and that's really all AI companionship can offer, just complicated enough to fool the naive.

[confused2]

The best thing about other people is when they don't do exactly as you expect.

Possibly a rather limited understanding of what it is to be human.

My mother once said "You get pleasure out of giving pleasure". As an evolved species this is a (usually) unspoken thing that makes 'society' hang together. There's folks that get pleasure out of causing distress - they get away with it because 'normal' folks appreciate the pleasure they're getting out of it and get the same pleasure-giving hit as if they were dealing with a 'normal' person.
So.
What's missing with an AI?
The AI doesn't have a pleasure centre. You can't give anything to it because it doesn't need anything. You're better off with a cat (or hamster).
But.
The AI developers aren't going to tell you that.

[Syne]

If people always did exactly what you expected, life would be awfully boring.