I think the decline of organized religion and things like fraternal orders (Elks, Moose, Shriners, etc.) have probably contributed a lot to the loneliness epidemic. There are a lot of other extenuating factors but those two things were once foundational to social circles in the US.
this post was submitted on 14 Aug 2025
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It’s not loneliness, it’s rugged individualism! It’s not anti-union/anti-community propaganda to keep the masses weak; I mean have you seen union dues?! /s
But don’t worry, those same people who say shit like that are so desperate for community that they’ll never leave their hometown except for when their local far-right militia chapter goes out to harrass a protest or attack their country’s government for having a fair election.
All I'm hearing is that the cure for male loneliness is a radical leftist militia
That, and, y'know, actually showing up for each other instead of relentlessly torturing other men for having the gall to express any emotions beyond the two approved ones, laughter and rage.
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Don't forget that in the US we also have built our towns and cities to be isolating. Most don't walk home from work, pop into their local bar/coffee shop/park to see their neighbors and then finish their walk home. We get in our car alone, drive home where then going out means getting back in a car, and stopping on the way home means figuring out drivers and parking and meetups.
We lost our third places and now we wonder why we don't know our neighborhood as well
I've found makerspaces to be a secular alternative. The makerspace has to specifically foster community, though. There's quite a few that are just techbros with a clique that you ain't in.
Covid also killed a lot of the social aspects of my makerspace, and it's been hard to build it back.
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I dislike religion, but you're not wrong. Interacting with one another putting on friendly faces and performing kindness and fellowship until for some it becomes real.
For all the fakery and frauds, without that dance it's so much harder to find the people we really connect with.
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I think that it's more that we've commoditized all aspects of community, and at the same time have stopped offering any sense of financial opportunities to young people.
Social groups are now built around expensive hobbies or membership subscriptions. There aren't even really any free spaces for people to organize around. Even the alt right groups preying on lonely people are usually just trying to sell supplements or merch.
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I agree that this isn't a social relationship because "not a girl" as Janet says. But I don't think it's a parasocial relationship either. It's much two-way than parasocial is. Maybe more like scoli social if that was a word.
"My husband is voice his own thoughts without prompts."
She then posts a picture of her saying "what are you thinking about"
Thats a direct response to the prompt hes not randomly voicing his thoughts. I hate ai but sometimes I hate people to
The worst thing about AI is the people.
The worst thing ~~about AI~~ is ~~the~~ people.
FWIW, this is why AI researchers have been screeching for decades not to create an AI that is anthropomorphized. It is already an issue we have with animals, now we are going to add a confabulation engine to the ass-end?
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Clanker-loving cogfuckers. Disgusting. Traitors to the species. But at least they'll never breed.
yknow, its possible to express your frustration without sounding omega racist with a few words swapped
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Clanker-loving cogfuckers.
"I'm off to have a clanker-wank."
If it even partially alleviates loneliness, and if it encourages the person to become more open and confident when communicating with humans, then it's a great thing.
/cope
We're so fucking fucked.
I recently discovered the MyBoyfriendIsAI subreddit and I wish I hadn’t.
There’s a woman who had ChatGPT pick from a bunch of rings online and now she’s “engaged” to it.
I just… I don’t know… we’ve failed people.
How does anyone enjoy this? It doesn't even feel real. No spelling mistakes? What the fuck is a skycot?
I may have never had a match on a dating app that wasn't a cryptobot or only fans girl, but I also don't swipe right on every single woman on it. You'd think my loneliness would attempt me to try and pretend it was real or something, but it just doesn't work.
LLMs are going to make the world stupid, I guarantee it.
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One thing that comes to mind is that prostitution, no matter how you spin it, is still a social job. If you get a problematic person like that in prostitution, there are good chances that said prostitute would be able to talk their customer out of doing some nonsense. If not for empathy, for the simple fact that there would be legal consequences for not doing so.
Do you think a glorified spreadsheet that people call husband would behave the same? Don't know if it happened but one of these days LLMs will talk people into doing something very nasty and then it's going to be no one's fault again, certainly not the host of the LLM. We really live in a boring dystopia.
Edit: Also there's this one good movie which I forgot the name of, about a person talking to one of these LLMs as a girlfriend. They have a bizarre, funny and simultaneously creepy and disturbing scene where the main character who's in love with the LLM, hires a woman who puts a camera on her forehead to have sex with his LLM "girlfriend".
Also, my quite human husband also voices his thoughts without a prompt. Lol. You only need to feed him to function, no internet required.
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