How to restore human connection?

Did you know that people who help and contribute to the environment live more? People who are catholic and visit the church often live longer because they belong in a community?

Those people that exercise less and don’t have a very healthy lifestyle, are the people that live longer. This is due to those people spending a lot of time with their friends, and contacting humans often. Because of human bonding. People who are catholic and visit the church often live longer because they belong in a community.

People that exercise less and don’t have a very healthy lifestyle, are the people that live longer. This is due to those people spending a lot of time with their friends, and contacting humans often. Because of human bonding.The quarantine has been a huge hit for all people around the world. It has caused economic downfall, and people feeling isolated. For instance, 1 in 5 millennials don’t have a friend at all. 40% of office workers are feeling lonely at work.

Often we don’t even recognize the importance of the fundamental feeling - intimacy, and the consequences people face when not met with the need of being intimate with someone. Craving something that is so fundamental is normal, since humans crave intimacy.

Elevating loneliness is done in many different ways. To increase manufactured bonding, people pay people for them to cuddle them. This is a real profession. Professional cuddlers. You can also rent a friend in New York. 40 dollars an hour. You can find a connection, however it is expensive. These professions have recently flourished. Other consequences include some elderly people, shoplifting, due to feeling disconnected from their family. This way would have some kind of companion, so someone would contact them.

During the pandemic, a lot of people have been feeling disconnected. This doesn’t only mean feeling disconnected from your friends and family, this also portrays the message of losing your identity and feeling like you don’t belong anywhere. Due to the reason above, sites like reddit and quora’s visitors have increased due to people wanting to feel like they have a purpose in life and that they are a part of something.

Another example would be a story of a man in his early 50’s , recently divorced , living in Los Angeles. He was feeling very lonely. Due to this reason, he frequently paid a cuddler to cuddle him. However this wasn’t enough for him, so he started seeing multiple cuddlers. Although he has a medium salary, this was very expensive. The way he could afford it is that he would live in his car, leave the food in the refrigerator of his office and go to his gym to change clothes and shower. If this doesn’t speak about the importance of feeling loved, then I don’t know what does.

To feel much more bonded to someone , eating face to face with them may help. Research done in Chicago proves that firefighter companies in which employees ate together , performed twice as well as companies who didn’t. They felt more bonded together, and this reflected on their quality of work.

Finally, you can feel bonded with anyone. Whether it is your family, friends, a professional cuddler or even a dog (or any other pet). Make connections with your friends and family as much as you can, because not everyone can do so.

Citation: Nareen Hertz "How to restore human connection" on The Psychology podcast.