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Friendship Recession
The friendship recession is a decline in the number of friends people have in Canada and the United States. The decline first began in the late 20th century. This phenomenon is theorized to have a wide range of impacts on mental and physical health. Statistics USA Surveys show that the number of close friends people have on average has decreased. Those who state they have 10+ close friends, excluding family members, was 33% in 1990, but has now decreased to 13% in 2021. Canada Canadian seniors can often feel more lonely than the general population. Ageism, the community environment and dementia can put them more at risk. Impacts Social isolation significantly increases a person's risk of premature death from all causes, a risk that may rival that of smoking, obesity, and physical inactivity. It also creates a higher likelihood of becoming depressed or anxious, or committing suicide. One study in Germany showed that having several friends is correlated with fewer worries about the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Friend
Friendship is a relationship of mutual affection between people. It is a stronger form of interpersonal bond than an "acquaintance" or an "association", such as a classmate, neighbor, coworker, or colleague. Although there are many forms of friendship, certain features are common to many such bonds, such as choosing to be with one another, enjoying time spent together, and being able to engage in a positive and supportive role to one another. Sometimes friends are distinguished from family, as in the saying "friends and family", and sometimes from lovers (e.g., "lovers and friends"), although the line is blurred with friends with benefits. Similarly, being in the ''friend zone'' describes someone who is restricted from rising from the status of friend to that of lover (see also unrequited love). Friendship has been studied in academic fields, such as communication, sociology, social psychology, anthropology, and philosophy. Various academic theories of friendship have been ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wage Stagnation
Real wages are wages adjusted for inflation, or equivalently wages in terms of the amount of goods and services that can be bought. This term is used in contrast to nominal wages or unadjusted wages. Because it has been adjusted to account for changes in the prices of goods and services, real wages provide a clearer representation of an individual's wages in terms of what they can afford to buy with those wages – specifically, in terms of the amount of goods and services that can be bought; however, real wages suffer the disadvantage of not being well defined, since the amount of inflation (which can be calculated based on different combinations of goods and services) is itself not well defined. Hence real wage defined as the total amount of goods and services that can be bought with a wage, is also not defined. This is because of changes in the relative prices. Despite difficulty in defining one value for the real wage, in some cases a real wage can be said to have unequivoc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Friendship
Friendship is a Interpersonal relationship, relationship of mutual affection between people. It is a stronger form of interpersonal bond than an "acquaintance" or an "association", such as a classmate, neighbor, coworker, or colleague. Although there are many forms of friendship, certain features are common to many such bonds, such as choosing to be with one another, enjoying time spent together, and being able to engage in a positive and supportive role to one another. Sometimes friends are distinguished from family, as in the saying "friends and family", and sometimes from Sexual partner, lovers (e.g., "lovers and friends"), although the line is blurred with Friends with benefits relationships, friends with benefits. Similarly, being in the ''friend zone'' describes someone who is restricted from rising from the status of friend to that of lover (see also unrequited love). Friendship has been studied in academic fields, such as Communication studies, communication, sociology ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Loneliness Epidemic
The loneliness epidemic is an ongoing trend of loneliness and social isolation experienced by people across the globe. The increase may have begun in the 2010s and was exacerbated by the isolating effects of social distancing, stay-at-home orders, and deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic. Other factors credited for the increase include individualism, technology and social media, economic inequality, lack of social support, and lack of a college degree. History of the study of loneliness The concept of a "loneliness epidemic" began to gain attention before the COVID-19 pandemic, with researchers pointing to rising rates of social isolation in the 2000s. Robert D. Putnam’s 2000 study ''Bowling Alone'' was one of the first to identify loneliness as an epidemic, highlighting how decreased participation in civic life and community groups was weakening social bonds in the United States. In 2010, a systematic review and meta analysis by Holt-Lunstad, Smith, and Layton, stated tha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hikkikomori
''Hikikomori'' (, "pulling inward, being confined") are reclusive adolescents or adults who withdraw from social life, often seeking extreme degrees of isolation and confinement. The term refers to both the sociological phenomenon in general and the individuals belonging to this societal group. ''Hikikomori'' has been described as a modern form of social withdrawal that has been an increasing problem in Japan since the 1990s, with estimates suggesting that between half a million to over a million individuals are affected. While the phenomenon is most associated with Japan, cases with similar conditions have also been reported in other parts of the world. The key characteristics of ''hikikomori'' include a marked avoidance of social situations and interaction, a retreat into one's home (often a single room) for at least six months, and significant functional impairment or distress. While not a formal psychiatric diagnosis in itself, ''hikikomori'' can co-occur with various m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Third Places
In sociology, the third place refers to the social surroundings that are separate from the two usual social environments of home ("first place") and the workplace ("second place"). Examples of third places include churches, cafes, bars, clubs, libraries, gyms, bookstores, hackerspaces, stoops, parks, and theaters, among others. In his book '' The Great Good Place'' (1989), Ray Oldenburg argues that third places are important for democracy, civic engagement, and a sense of place. Oldenburg's coauthor Karen Christensen argues in the 2025 sequel that third places are the answer to loneliness, political polarization, and climate resilience. She also clarifies the difference between third places and public spaces. Oldenburg and Christensen's characteristics of third places American sociologist Ray Oldenburg called one's "first place" the home and the people the person lives with. The "second place" is the workplace—where people may actually spend most of their waking time. Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
COVID-19 Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. Soon after, it spread to other areas of Asia, and COVID-19 pandemic by country and territory, then worldwide in early 2020. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) on 30 January 2020, and assessed the outbreak as having become a pandemic on 11 March. COVID-19 symptoms range from asymptomatic to deadly, but most commonly include fever, sore throat, nocturnal cough, and fatigue. Transmission of COVID-19, Transmission of the virus is often airborne transmission, through airborne particles. Mutations have variants of SARS-CoV-2, produced many strains (variants) with varying degrees of infectivity and virulence. COVID-19 vaccines were developed rapidly and deplo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Workism
Workism is a term describing excessive devotion to work ethic, so much that it defines a person's purpose in life. The term was coined by American journalist Derek Thompson, in a 2019 article for ''The Atlantic'' magazine. Workism may come across as cult-like because of the burden being put on workists to present themselves positively, the use of groupthink, having work dictate their relationships and thinking, and the pursuit of an idealised outcome that may be unrealistic. Workism may be experienced as oppressive by both working and non-working people. Workist attitudes may develop in the context of a historically Protestant work ethic, or independently as a heuristic bias redeeming hustle culture, in which people try to justify the immense sacrifices they have made to maintain and advance their careers, rather than the reason they started making those sacrifices. It is also claimed that workism has trickled down from the top, for whom this disposition makes more sense. Worki ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Urban Sprawl
Urban sprawl (also known as suburban sprawl or urban encroachment) is defined as "the spreading of urban developments (such as houses and shopping centers) on undeveloped land near a city". Urban sprawl has been described as the unrestricted growth in many urban areas of housing, commercial development, and roads over large expanses of land, with little concern for very dense urban planning. Sometimes the urban areas described as the most "sprawling" are the most densely populated. In addition to describing a special form of urbanization, the term also relates to the social and environmental consequences associated with this development. In modern times some suburban areas described as "sprawl" have less detached housing and higher density than the nearby core city. Medieval suburbs suffered from the loss of protection of city walls, before the advent of industrial warfare. Modern disadvantages and costs include increased travel time, transport costs, pollution, and dest ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Social Isolation
Social isolation is a state of complete or near-complete lack of contact between an individual and society. It differs from loneliness, which reflects temporary and involuntary lack of contact with other humans in the world. Social isolation can be an issue for individuals of any age, though symptoms may differ by age group. Social isolation has similar characteristics in both temporary instances and for those with a historical lifelong isolation cycle. All types of social isolation can include staying home for lengthy periods of time, having no communication with family, acquaintances or friends, and/or willfully avoiding any contact with other humans when those opportunities do arise. Effects True social isolation over years and decades can be a chronic condition affecting all aspects of a person's existence. Social isolation can lead to feelings of loneliness, fear of others, or negative self-esteem. Lack of consistent human contact can also cause conflict with (periphera ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Suburb
A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated than the city and can have a higher or lower rate of detached single family homes than the city as well. Suburbs can have their own political or legal jurisdictions, especially in the United States, but this is not always the case, especially in the United Kingdom, where most suburbs are located within the administrative boundaries of cities. In most English-speaking world, English-speaking countries, suburban areas are defined in contrast to core city, central city or inner city areas, but in Australian English and South African English, ''suburb'' has become largely synonymous with what is called a "neighborhood" in the U.S. Due in part to historical trends such as white flight, some suburbs in the United States have a higher population ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Car Dependency
Car dependency is a pattern in urban planning that occurs when infrastructure favors automobiles over other modes of transport, such as public transport, bicycles, and walking. Car dependency is associated with higher transport pollution than transport systems that treat all transportation modes equally. Car infrastructure is often paid for by governments from general taxes rather than gasoline taxes or mandated by governments. For instance, many cities have minimum parking requirements for new housing, which in practice requires developers to "subsidize" drivers. In some places, bicycles and rickshaws are banned from using road space. The road lobby plays an important role in maintaining car dependency, arguing that car infrastructure is good for economic growth. Description In many modern cities, automobiles are convenient and sometimes necessary to move easily. When it comes to automobile use, there is a spiraling effect where traffic congestion produces the 'demand' for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
