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Re:Loneliness Reshapes the Brain by cubefox on Tuesday February 28, 2023 @12:14PM (#34971872)
In general, we have a lot of interactions online, but unfortunately those do not have the positive effects physical contacts have.

On HN we are normally not even "online friends" with specific other users. The users are identifiable just as some little grey nickname. Who even is this "GalenErso" guy? Or "cubefox"? What are they up to? We might as well all post anonymously, the outcome would basically be the same.

That's not a natural way to interact, no wonder the brain breaks a little if it does not much else.

Re:Loneliness Reshapes the Brain by politician on Tuesday February 28, 2023 @12:22PM (#34972011)
Not to mention that HN has specific technological countermeasures to prevent genuine conversations between two users from developing. Specifically, the response rate limiter and the absence of a response awareness or notification system.
Re:Loneliness Reshapes the Brain by dnissley on Tuesday February 28, 2023 @12:48PM (#34972389)
Also no DMs (unless you have > X karma?)
Re:Loneliness Reshapes the Brain by david_allison on Tuesday February 28, 2023 @05:00PM (#34975535)
Re:Loneliness Reshapes the Brain by cubefox on Tuesday February 28, 2023 @04:05PM (#34974833)
In the old days, forums often had attached chatrooms. Forum people could hang out there and just do small talk. It seems every forum today, every subreddit, should have a chat room. Still, even this is not nearly as healthy as meeting people face to face.