I just had a conversation!
In real life!
With another person! 🤯🎉
It's probably been about 5 years since I last used my words for something other than a Functional Minimal Interaction like thanking my packidge man, or requesting a refund for a mouldy pizza.
In case you want to know what it was about:
- how cold the weather is at the moment
- how it wasn't like this when we were young
- the etiquette for working on the shared jigsaws in the library, out of hours
#Trans man 'blindsided' by all the #loneliness and #suspicion that comes with being #male
Why do we become less social with age? It might be a brain thing 🧠
Surprising research reveals aging brains process social rewards differently—this could explain social withdrawal.
Key brain areas tied to empathy and motivation also show decreased activity.
Shorten links, earn side income! Boost sharing & tracking. Learn more: is.gd/rRy0Si #URLshortener
Read more: http://is.gd/erVCrQ?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon
Your thoughts on aging and connection? 🧵👇
#BrainHealth #Loneliness
AI delusions: Heartbreaking stories of vulnerable people falling prey to delusions inspired by LLM chatbots
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/13/technology/chatgpt-ai-chatbots-conspiracies.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Ok8.kI_M.Jerohq9ZRfTZ∣=url-share
#mentalhealth #loneliness #delusion #chatbot #chatgpt #llm
WELCOME TO OUR QRIB
Willow River Centre and Spectrum’s Black, Racialized and Indigenous Queers (BRIQ) House are co-organizing a series of events called QRIB (Queer, Racialized, Indigenous and Black) community hangouts to help foster a safer community for self-identifying queer, racialized, Indigenous and Black individuals.
The two organizations started hosting these hangouts last year from Aug. 9 to Dec 13. Initially focused on karaoke, the hangouts have since evolved to include other community-focused activities like bonfires and discussion circles.
The name “QRIB” is a play on words for the word crib and was chosen to evoke a sense of home or gathering space. The Willow-River Centre, an event venue based in Kitchener, played a key role by offering a space designed for the Indigenous and racialized queer population, incorporating culturally specific elements, local art and non-hierarchical, healing-focused community values, instead of clinical or colonial support models.
“They bring a sense of safety for a lot of Indigenous and queer people locally,” Karla Gomez, a facilitator of the QRIB hangout, said.
Spectrum provides funding and support, including food and resources at hangouts. Though the organization wasn’t initially inclusive, recent leadership changes made it more committed to reconciliation and community prioritization.
“The hangouts are non-hierarchical, free, and community-led, fostering healing and connection in ways that feel safe and liberating to those involved,” Roni Noodle, a director of the QRIB hangouts, said.
Noodle also explained how QRIB is unique in Kitchener-Waterloo, and no other local spaces offer the same intersectional support for 2SLGBTQIA+ and racialized individuals. Noodle described BRIQ House as another supportive space for Indigenous and queer people in the area but noted it holds a different relationship with the community compared to Willow River Centre. Although Spectrum started hosting QRIB hangouts to create a more inclusive space, it’s not a space designed for racialized, Black and Indigenous individuals. Even though they’re attempting to change, they decided a partnership with Willow River Centre will help them.
“It’s a space where you don’t need to translate your soul. It’s designed with you in mind,” Roni said.
They said that people from within the racialized or queer community are not always comfortable in public spaces and they do not feel acknowledged or seen, but this is a space where those individuals can feel comfort and express themselves more freely.
Noodle explained that last year’s QRIB hangouts went very well. However, Spectrum’s director changed earlier this year and the two organizations were not sure if they had funding for the hangouts this year. However, the new director was very supportive of the events.
“Events like this are too important to the community for us not to prioritize funding for it,” Gomez said.
She said events such as the QRIB hangout need to exist, saying that Spectrum continues to show commitment to supporting these hangouts, by applying for funding for racialized Indigenous Queers.
These events have had a successful turnout so far, with returning participants and new individuals joining the hangout, these events also address local issues revolving around the racialized, queer, and Indigenous communities such as peer support, food insecurity, loneliness, and isolation.
#2SLGBTQIA_ #Black #colonialSupportModel #FoodInsecurity #healingFocused #Indigenous #Isolation #karlaGomez #KitchenerWaterloo #LocalArt #loneliness #PeerSupport #qrib #queer #racialized #RoniNoodle #SafeSpace #SangjunHan #Spectrum #WillowRiverCentre
Small acts of rebellion to give you back a sense of control
- Ride your bike
- Shop local and independent
- Use a website instead of an app
- Find a more ethical brand of an everyday item
- Repair something instead of replacing it
- Buy direct from an artist whose work you love
- Turn your phone off for 1 hour
- Block ads with uBlock Origin and Firefox
- Make an actual phone call to a loved one
- Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Add more 👇
In just minutes, the Life Story Club in NYC springs to life.
A mosaic of faces leans in as Bernd, a retired urban planner, shares how the pandemic nudged him into new passions.
“It’s a social event,” he animatedly describes his woodworking group.
Meet the members of the Dull Men’s Club: ‘Some of them would bore the ears off you’ https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/jun/09/meet-the-members-of-the-dull-mens-club-some-of-them-would-bore-the-ears-off-you #Australianlifestyle #Health&wellbeing #Australianews #Mentalhealth #Lifeandstyle #Socialmedia #Loneliness #Agedcare #Ageing
Check in on your friends!
"Time spent alone among young people increased slowly in the second half of the 2010s and then rose sharply during the COVID-19 pandemic. It hasn’t fallen back to earlier levels since then."
https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/who-americans-spend-their-time-with?country=~15-29+years
When did presence start feeling like absence?
Sometimes the room is full, but the silence is everywhere.
Screens glow, notifications ping, but no one’s really with you.
It isn’t just tech, it’s the new shape of being alone together.
Image generated by AI for commentary only.
👉https://www.clickworlddaily.com/2025/06/the-house-was-full-of-devices-but-no.html
👉 Recently published
In "Sociology of loneliness: An introduction" @cecilevandevelde takes a sociological approach to loneliness eliciting its structural dimensions: the weight of social norms, its social factors and manifestations, the role of inequalities, and its multiple subjective forms pointing to how loneliness' causes and consequences are primarily played out at the social and political levels.
Open Access 👇
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/00016993251330960
#Transport for #London (TfL) has relaunched its popular Chatty Cabins initiative on the IFS Cloud Cable Car for #Loneliness Awareness Week (9–13 June). The free 20-minute round-trip encourages passengers to connect by discussing favourite London moments, supported by conversation prompts from TfL. Participants receive a hot drink along with their ride.
The initiative aims to tackle loneliness in London, where around 700,000 people often feel lonely, especially among vulnerable groups. It builds on the Mayor’s Social Inclusion Strategy and research highlighting the issue.
Deputy Mayor Seb Dance and Marmalade Trust, organisers of Loneliness Awareness Week, praise the scheme’s success in fostering connections. Additional events will run on the #TfL network throughout the week to support community engagement.
https://tfl-newsroom.prgloo.com/resources/tfl-image-chatty-cabins-1
Tonight in class we explored relational ethics, also known as caring ethics. I’m skipping over the lesson itself to focus on what came up for me.
There is an assumption in relational ethics that every one has access to multiple caring relationships beyond therapy. Therapy offers connection, others in a person's life are expected to provide emotional nourishment as well. Some people arrive without any safe relationships. Many carry histories of trauma, neglect, or isolation. In those situations, therapy becomes the one space offering presence and care. Rules and boundaries shape the work, the relationship often holds the entire emotional weight.
Helping others often gets presented as a response to loneliness. Service becomes a substitute for connection. Provide care, contribute meaningfully, fill time with acts of support. None of this addresses the core need. Loneliness demands recognition, conection and shared experience. External acts do not replace mutual relationships.
Another question arose around empathy. We were asked to think about when we first showed empathy. My answer surprised me. Therapy offered the first safe space where empathy emerged. Childhood lacked attunement, emotional safety, or reflective experience. In that environment, empathy could grow. Survival required internal distance.
During trauma work, a therapeutic relationship provided attuned presence. Over time, emotional empathy stirred. Later experience gave it permission to form and take root.
Some conversations treat empathy as universal or innate. This creates pressure, erasing different pathways toward growth. People raised without emotional safety often build these capacities during adulthood.
#Counselling #Therapy #RelationalEthics #CaringEthics #Trauma #Empathy #Loneliness #MentalHealth #TherapistTraining #RelationalTherapy #Attachment #TraumaRecovery #CPTSD #Healing #EthicsInTherapy
Sometimes you think you see someone, heading towards you down a #tunnel. You run… but when you get there, they're gone like smoke on the wind.
They don't allow smoking down here, not even in #WrongLondon Still a cold wind though, despite few #trains
#loneliness #psychogeography #London #Photography #LondonUnderground
From Kelly Hayes:
"... I’ve long been troubled by how the debate over “male loneliness” is framed. Critics of the concept often argue that there is no such epidemic, while those who amplify the idea frequently weaponize it against the left, claiming that men (usually meaning white men) have been alienated by social justice movements and critiques of the patriarchy. What both positions often overlook is that many people are lonely, and that our vulnerability to bad ideas, toxic ideologies, and exploitation is not bound up in a single demographic ..."
#loneliness #manosphere
https://organizingmythoughts.org/must-reads-and-some-thoughts-on-male-loneliness/?ref=organizingmythoughts-newsletter
