How Does Society Contribute to Loneliness | Dealing with Loneliness
Society has contributed to loneliness with the technology of today. Television, DVD's, computers and video games have all motivated people of all ages to stay indoors rather than enhancing their physical and social abilities. Although technology has come a long way and is beneficial in most cases, it has hindered the physical, emotional and social well-being of many individuals. How to deal with loneliness?
Because more and more families need two bread-winners just to be able to live comfortably many children become "latchkey children," left to their own resources for hours every day. These children are usually told to go directly home after school until their parents return from work. This further hampers the development of social skills in children.
Education equips children for every day life in a world that we, as grown-ups, no longer understand because the technological and intellectual levels of teaching have changed. Children now need different skills, often taught in a different way from the way their parents learned, isolating the children and parents from one another through differences in their knowledge.
Loneliness can occur during any disruptions within the family such as divorce, separation, moving to another town, the loss of a close relationship and the dissatisfaction of an existing relationship. Adapting to any changes may be hardest on the children, because if there was a time in which they needed anyone, it is now. Unfortunately, the parents do not seem to have time to spend with the children as they are adjusting to the change themselves.
Society has encouraged loneliness within many individuals by the process of classifying people into groups on the basis of common attributes; this process is known as social categorization. For example, society assumes that a person who is attractive also has desirable personality characteristics. This type of bias is known as the "what is beautiful is good stereotype." These stereotypes leave young adults with the feeling of rejection, leading to loneliness, because they do not have what it takes to be popular.
During adolescence the teenager is very self-conscious and aware of how they are perceived by others. The media elaborates on statements such as, "the thin look is in." This leads the teenager to try and change into what they are not, only satisfying the expectations of society.
Society often assumes that the relationship between the elderly and being feeble are correlated. Many people often stereotype the elderly as being unable to take care of themselves and that they are a burden on society until they die. Some elderly people assume that this is the way in which they are expected to behave in society causing them to be depressed and lonely.
Through the years, adults just do not have time for their parents anymore and so they place them in Nursing Homes to be cared for by others. The sad thing is that many do not return to visit with their parents.
