Modern loneliness masks itself as hyper-connectivity. And so people have easily 1000 virtual friends, but no one they can ask to feed their cat. That loneliness, which is a depletion of social capital, is extremely powerful.

One question, raised by Esther Perel, has proved very pertinent:

“When you grew up, did you play freely on the street?”

And it seems most people learned to play freely on the street. They learned social negotiation. They learned unscripted, unchoreographed, unmonitored interaction with people. They fought, they made rules, they made peace, they made friends, they broke up, they made friends again. They developed social muscles. Sadly, the majority of these very same people’s children do not play freely on the street.

Adults need to return to a form of free play, which probably means talking to people in the queue or talking to people on the bus or train commute. Creating groups – book clubs, movie clubs, craft groups, board game groups. We need In Real Life (IRL) interaction because predictive technologies give us a form of assisted living, served uncomplicated, with a lack of friction, and no obstacles, and we no longer know how to deal with people. Because people are complex systems.

Relationships and friendships are complicated. They need attention and time and can be tough on occasion. They don’t offer a glitch-free, press-this-button option, and so we are lulled into that which seems easier, which in turn has led to the modern loneliness crisis.

GFS Perth has been enabling Friendship for almost 140 years. Check our socials or Events Calendar. #FriendshipRevolution