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Re:Older Americans are alone half their waking hours, on ave... by toomuchtodo on Friday July 12, 2019 @11:40AM (#20421489)
I agree entirely with this. I can only speak for myself and my wife (mid 30s), but we are making active efforts to combat this in our family and social circle. Our house is large enough to take in parents (parents still have hangups about how "they should be able to take care of themselves and live by themselves"; we'll be waiting if and when they change their mind), extended family, and friends, we host family dinners once a week (family friends are invited, all are welcome), and we prioritize interpersonal relationships over material possession acquisition and meaningless work (some possessions are required, and not all work is meaningless, but I hope I got my point across).

Fighting loneliness requires active effort. You are not going to care one bit if you bought that extra widget or got an extra story in on your sprint later in life. Put time into what matters: people.

Re:Older Americans are alone half their waking hours, on ave... by Loughla on Friday July 12, 2019 @12:13PM (#20421776)
>You are not going to care one bit if you bought that extra widget or got an extra story in on your sprint later in life. Put time into what matters: people

It's such a hack premise, but this actually happened to me - my mother used to work in a nursing home, and required all of her kids to volunteer there when they were old enough (12 to 21 if you still lived at home). My job, as the rambunctious ADHD youth was to give 'wheelchair rides'. Which was where I would push the elderly around the grounds looking at trees and what-not, and just generally being an audience while they talked.

The one thing that literally everyone I gave a ride to, when the topic inevitably turned to death (it always did, old people are so straight up about it) - the absolute only topic that everyone hit on was that they regretted doing 'x' instead of spending time with 'person y'.

I gave wheelchair rides to poor people - who regretted not spending more time with their kids because they were busy working or whatever.

I gave wheelchair rides to rich people - who regretted not spending more time with their kids because they were busy working or whatever.

And that made me into the 'I will work only 40 if that's what is required of me' beast that I am today. In my area of the US, we have a very 1950's 'work until you can't anymore' sort of mentality; the kind where work defines you.

I have left several positions in my career because they refused to understand that my time at home with family and friends is more important than my time at work, and that my time is so much more important to me than any financial incentive they could offer past my base salary.

Re:Older Americans are alone half their waking hours, on ave... by ixtli on Friday July 12, 2019 @11:42AM (#20421506)
There might not even be anything you can do if its systemic! Honestly as I get older (im 32) i find how fucking lucky i was to have been brought up in a really really strong family (half is italian, half is european jewish.) Its amazing the degree to which this has helped me be a normal person with good coping mechanisms.
Re:Older Americans are alone half their waking hours, on ave... by hestipod on Friday July 12, 2019 @02:43PM (#20423243)
I've always been envious of such families. Only one person in my family was really a quality person, and he passed long ago. I moved abroad for a time to a country where families are closer and while it was exhausting and intense in it's own way after my childhood, it was amazingly "safe" feeling. The relationship that brought me into that fold is gone, and while I don't miss my partner, I miss those people in their family greatly.
Re:Older Americans are alone half their waking hours, on ave... by toomuchtodo on Friday July 12, 2019 @03:29PM (#20423644)
You might consider reaching out to that family and exploring if you can be friends without the relationship that brought them into your orbit. No downside to asking.
Re:Older Americans are alone half their waking hours, on ave... by hestipod on Friday July 12, 2019 @04:19PM (#20424116)
I live in a different country now and it's difficult to maintain long distance relationships in the best circumstances. When I lived there and saw them on the street (I lived nearby) it was always nice and they are wonderful people, but there was no way to have a relationship beyond that as my ex, the replacement relationship, and child that followed, were their family then, not me. It's always in the back of my mind as I adored the family and they treated me like one of them. It's just how it goes.
Re:Older Americans are alone half their waking hours, on ave... by toomuchtodo on Friday July 12, 2019 @05:03PM (#20424470)
I'm sorry to hear that.
Re:Older Americans are alone half their waking hours, on ave... by AstralStorm on Friday July 12, 2019 @02:14PM (#20422995)
Similar. I got to meet most of extended family at least once, some relatively often. We're spread out but in clusters. This helps if anyone wants to move and it helps keep in touch.

(Some went to another country, we haven't heard much of them - distance can still be a barrier and culture in Western Europe is different.)

Re:Older Americans are alone half their waking hours, on ave... by lotsofpulp on Friday July 12, 2019 @11:46AM (#20421542)
In my family and extended family, we keep parents with the kids as they age so that they’re never alone. Free babysitting too. Requires quite a bit of compromise though, but being able to afford a larger well insulated home helps.