Stoking the Fires of Urban Complex - Solitude and Loneliness

Stoking the Fires of Urban Complex - Solitude’s Journey and The Undead of Loneliness Modern lifestyles in the 21st century are unlike any other period in human history. Populations are living longer, urban centres are becoming denser and the ongoing expansion of the Internet has transformed how individuals communicate and interact with one another. Although modern societies are increasingly connected via digital platforms, a growing tide of loneliness appears to be on the rise through various forms of social isolation. According to a recent report entitled Loneliness in America (February 2021) 43% of young adults reported an increase in loneliness since the outbreak of the COVID events. More worryingly, over the past 50 years, loneliness has become increasingly widespread at a global level, especially in middle aged and older adults. In this episode, we distinguish between loneliness and solitude, explaining the major differences between the two experiences. Loneliness is a negative state where there is no given choice, leading to an individual “feeling alone” whereas, solitude is a voluntary state marked by a choice of “being alone” to spend time by one self. We ask key questions, such as; What Is loneliness? Who Is mainly affected? Why loneliness is bad for us? How it affects our health? And are we neglecting a part of our lives which leads to a greater sense of happiness and satisfaction? We the explore the concept of solitude and its relation to the modern world and discover there are overlapping lines between preferring solitude and choosing solitude and the boundaries often get blurred. In the final section, we explore the idea of modern society becoming a more lonelier place by analyzing solitude through the philosophical thought of Henry David Thoreau. Thoreau’s time spent alone was not merely about self-sufficiency, it was about solitude and transcendence towards the divine in nature. By examining Thoreau’s Masterpiece, Walden, we establish a contradiction between encountering the self (during solitude), as opposed to seeking company (during solitude). This draws parallels with modern society whereby, populations are living in closer contact, in the form of densely populated, urbanized communities. However paradoxically, our modern way of life (by its very design) isolates us from others, resulting in a growth of disparate communities which are drifting further apart, hence a rising trend of more people experiencing loneliness. Key factors influencing this trend include a slow decline in spatial communities and the influence of technology on social isolation. To conclude we argue that, market capitalism has purposefully created a state of loneliness through its complex and artificial capitalist economic system. This is the same system which continues to stoke an addiction to wealth and materialism, by making people work longer hours, thereby perpetuating the cycle of loneliness.