How Capitalism Causes Loneliness

Study after study confirms that we're all lonelier and more depressed than ever. Why is that? The root cause goes deeper than you might think.

How Capitalism Causes Loneliness – Second Thought

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Citations and Further Reading:

Links to mental health support (that aren’t 988)

Alienation

Main news clip

Loneliness study

Burnout

Workers and return to office

Wealth and zip code

Social media and mental health study quoted

Neoliberal thought

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About Second Thought:
Second Thought is a channel devoted to education and analysis of current events from a Leftist perspective. Welcome!

[johnphillips]

“When all of society is geared toward maximum exploitation instead of maximum well-being, of course mental health is going to suffer.” 🔥🔥🔥🔥

[BagOCheetos]

I am a disabled veteran who lives alone, and this channel makes me feel less lonely. I appreciate you. 🤗

[elidicerbo]

JT briefly touched on it, but car dependent infrastructure (as a result of automotive industry lobbying) definitely plays a huge role in loneliness and isolation, ESPECIALLY among kids. Nothing is quite as isolating as needing to drive 15-30+ minutes through loud, dangerous, inefficient infrastructure to go to your friends’ houses, a public park, school, work, or even just the grocery store. This is why good urbanism will be a necessary part of socialist revolution in my opinion. If anyone is interested in what I talked about, NotJustBikes is a great channel to learn more!

[birdwatching_u_back]

Experts: “loneliness is a huge problem”

Also experts: “it’s up to you to work out these issues on your own, take matters into your own hands and bear the crushing burden of solving your loneliness by yourself”

[The_Human_Mass]

Even schools promote this, as there's still a strong environment of shut up and get work done. This means that during the years of our life where we grow into an individual we are still restricted from socializing with people to build more empathetic and caring environments.

[oxherder]

Can definitely confirm this is a huge problem affecting young people, like all people in Toronto in their 20s are lonely pretty much.

[craigvarian]

I can't think of any lonelier feeling I've experienced in my life than working in an office.

[TophBostic]

I feel this so so so deeply. I can see in real time how, at only 30 years old, my family connections are withering because I have to sell 5/7th of my waking hours in order to survive. The other 2/7th is spent trying to either rest, socialize, or complete personal errands/hobbies. Not completing either resting, socializing, or errands in that small window ends up creating a mental deficit that gets ignored come Monday. How have we created such anti-human conditions for ourselves? 😕

[chrisparsons]

I'm 50, I've lived this since I was 9; was left alone so mom could work nights. Grew up alienated from others' social groups because I was so poor. Wasted 25 yrs chasing the American Dream; double shifts, full time work and college, saddled with student loan debt and no good job to show for it, missed most of the milestones of my child's life, still no house, live with my adult child, struggle with crippling depression and all the stigmas that come with it socially. In debt up to my eyes. Yeah buddy, gotta love Capitalist Society. Spent most of my life worrying how much potential loss I would take if I let people in my life versus toughing it out on my own. Believe me I've had plenty of backbiting "Friends". They tell me I'm not tough enough that's why I am poor. Sorry I can't sleep with myself at night if I do what everyone else does to make a buck. Whole thing makes me sick. They want us to turn on each other so we are not united against them. They want us miserable so we buy comfort items or binge on services to make them rich. Let my life be inspiration to spark Socialist change.

[juanjesusrosasventura]

I study economics at UNAM (the most important university in Mexico that is also free) and, in the opposite of other universities around the world, we read a lot of Marx. It is mandatory for three years. Some professors are against it and trying to get rid of it, but that still does not happen.

And I just want to praise the great work you do explaining socialist and Marxist theory in a simple and understandable way.

Honestly, Marx's texts are not easy to read and videos like this not only make it easier to understand but also communicate to the primary target: the worker class.

Keep going and thank you.

[WanderingExistence]

As somebody who feels lonely and constantly disempowered. Wage labor is renting yourself via "self ownership". Employment is literally renting another human being as if they're property. The employer-employee relationship is a very insidious dynamic. Employment is a rental contract, like if you rented capital (say, a chainsaw from Home Depot), you pay rent for the "time preference" (basically the cost of time) for a piece of property. Capitalism is based on a principle of self ownership, which sounds empowering, until you realize that most people don't own capital goods other than themselves, and must rent out the authority over themselves as pieces of "human capital". This is a process of dehumanization where human beings are valued for their return on investment as capital goods. This is why, at the very least, capitalism needs unions and safety nets (or abolishment), or else the system won't value people for their human value. Importantly we must also think about our sick, elderly, and disabled people, as they can't provide competitive economic return for the investor class to value. We must figure out a way to change this economic system if we wish to value each other.

[RedYellowBird]

Alienation is one of the many many blights of our so-called "free and enriching" captlist system. I'm glad to see you finally covered it.

[CrystalMouse]

I’m disabled. Without technology, I’d be completely alone! Thank you for addressing the real beast

[Souchirouu]

Turns out when you have to work 40+ hours a week leaving you so tired that you can not or barely function at all once your home isn't great for maintaining friendships let alone make new ones. Which is great! The less you interact with other people the less likely you are to talk to each other and take action collaboratively.

[lophiiformed]

As time goes on, instead of getting angrier or giving up, you've just gotten more funny

[Emma-Maze]

Loneliness really eats at the soul, people need people. 💛

[GothVampiress]

in addition to the fact that higher income people can hire others to save time from tasks, i feel like it's also very important to note that people often aren't paid enough to socialize on their offtime. there are social hobbies i've given up due to not being able to pay fees, and even going out for a beer or two twice a week would be out of my budget with what my boss offers. with fewer and fewer free events and fewer free social spaces, plus an increased culture of not bothering strangers in those spaces, it becomes prohibitively expensive to socialize and meet people.

[slerz]

In earlier times people had their tribe/community to confide in but nowadays there's a strong lack of cohesion in western urbanised environments. You pass thousands of people everyday whom are strangers to you.

[markdunn]

A huge factor is also car culture. Americans don’t realize how unusual the layouts of their towns are. American suburbs are so badly planned that it’s hard/impossible to go to the grocery store without a car, let alone make social connections. There are barely any parks, sidewalks, or any people-centered environments in the suburbs. I’m from Costa Rica, what most Americans would consider a “third world country”. What’s funny is that the quality of life seems better in Costa Rica, mostly due to more walkable towns that feel organic and vibrant rather than looking like a lifeless racetrack as do the suburbs of Dallas, Houston, Denver, Los Angeles, and most cities in America.

[wietse]

Something I've seriously been noticing and worrying about: It seems to me like the more I learn and think about capitalism and neoliberalism, the more it gets to me on an emotional level. Knowledge may be power, but also, sometimes it just feels terrible to know that I can't do anything about it. Not really at least. I am powerless in the face of capitalism. It just gets me down. I genuinely worry that learning about these things just makes me feel their impact more strongly. I am sometimes very tempted to just shut myself off and go with the flow.