Posted on 09/06/2019 8:45:53 PM PDT by Beave Meister
Transience is the very essence of the entertainment business, unpredictability its warp and weft.
Early this month, the market research and data analytics firm YouGov published the results of a startling poll.
According to interviews with 1,254 adult Americans, 30 percent of millennials have no best friends, 27 percent have no close friends and 22 percent have no friends at all. Not surprisingly, the report named them “the loneliest generation.” But loneliness is all around and perhaps nowhere more profoundly than in Hollywood.
Here’s what surprised me: that the statistics weren’t worse, for older people as well as millennials.
Look around and you’ll see whole armies of workers engulfed in their professional concerns, scurrying in and out of buildings, manning computers and phones, earbuds jammed in their lobes, too busy and overwhelmed by the pressures of their lives to have time to reach out, let alone form deep and lasting bonds.
Social media, as we know, has made this worse. A University of Pennsylvania study published in December in the Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology found that symptoms of loneliness and depression went down when social media was used less. And no group is more attuned to social media than those in the entertainment industry. But that’s just one of multiple factors altering our relationships with others. Stress, uncertainty, overwork, the volatility of the workplace, narcissism, competition — all these things play a part, honed to a fine art in the film and TV world.
In other industries, the workplace is often a communal hub. In Hollywood, it’s too frequently the core of a maelstrom that pits one individual against another. In other industries, relationships build over time as men and women come to know each other better, aware they’ll likely be working on the same team for years;
(Excerpt) Read more at hollywoodreporter.com ...
Eventually, some Churches will realize they may be able to grow the number of churchgoers by emphasizing social events.
Some already do this.
Socially events are viewed as trouble for churches. One lawsuit for sexual harassment and it isn’t worth it.
That and the older members may not be interested in bringing in younger people.
this one’s 4u, bud.
I see what you mean. It may be hard to use the activity building for both a Bingo tournament and a Christian Rap Concert. “Son, This church ain’t big enough for the both of us.
One of us has got to go!”
And one batch of bad potato salad would put a damper on future gatherings.
Just comments I have heard in the past. Worried about people trying to find a way to sue.
There is something fundamentally wrong with a person that has no close friends.
God, Honor, Family, Friends,and Country!
(Without God and honor we are reduced to miserable creatures)
I’m also a Chicagoan. I can’t imagine moving out there, because things are bad enough here. I couldn’t tolerate them being any worse.
I didn’t have friends until I reached high school. There was maybe two people I’d hang out with any given year, but they weren’t really friends, as in I couldn’t really trust them with personal stuff. And, as it turns out, most of the friends I made in high school weren’t really friends either. After my ex and I split, they all decided that they preferred him, even though we’d all been a cohesive group from freshman year until a bit over seven years later. The 2008 election made things worse, because I’m a Libertarian and they were all Socialists, even the one getting his masters in history.
The other friends I had, including my only close lady friend, introduced me to my husband. They’re a good bunch, and most see eye to eye with me on politics, though we try not to discuss it at gatherings. It’s not polite conversation.
I personally don’t understand this business of ghosting people due to political beliefs. I never blocked anybody on social media (when I still used it) based on their ideology, at least until they became abusive. My ex’s friends blocked me in the middle of debate when I called them out on biased sources, but that’s just as well.
I found all your coments puzzling. As someone who has served in the church in two denominations, and who has visited dozens of churches in many other denominations over a period of decades, I can honestly say that a concern of mine - and numerous others - is that of church becoming primarily a social club of sorts, with many varied activities.
As far as sexual harassment goes, Pence did not originate the so-called Pence Rule; he merely popularized it. The clergy I have known who got in trouble (especially youth ministers) did not live by that prudent and practical approach.
As far as the food goes, I have myself had so many meals at so many churches, I have lost all count; I never had food poisoning once. I once knew a little boy who called the social events side of community “Eating Church.”
A friend of mine went through a fairly amicable divorce many years ago. He gave his wife and daughter his fairly new F150 since he wanted them to be safe and took her old Escort.
He was at a gas station / convenience store and was flirting with a cute ambulance driver who had fueled the vehicle and was getting a snack and a drink.
He was getting a good vibe from her when she asked, “which car is yours?” He pointed to his old, crappy Escort and she smiled and said, “WOW! You must have a huge penis!”
Someone told me long ago that Midwesterners actually run the business end of LA. Or they did.
Hope these types can counter something like this:
From ZH
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-09-06/leprosy-could-be-next-public-health-crisis-hit-los-angeles
Look around and you’ll see whole armies of workers engulfed in their professional concerns, scurrying in and out of buildings, manning computers and phones, earbuds jammed in their lobes, too busy and overwhelmed by the pressures of their lives to have time to reach out, let alone form deep and lasting bonds.
The above described activity has nothing to do with the conclusion.
There has always been all the above except so much narcissism from the MEEEEE! generation. With so much narcissism, there is no room or need for friends. Friendship require giving of yourself and compromise which MEEEEE! doesn't allow.
I can’t speak for rural areas, but the millennial generation were probably the first to have play dates and organized play, instead of just making friends on the block you lived on. Then again, this might also be because the baby boom was over and there were just fewer kids the same age on the same street.
My kids’ “best friends” in early grades didn’t live all that close to us, and their “best friends” today are from middle school, high school or later.
If 70% have a best friend, that seems pretty high compared to society in general.
According to interviews with 1,254 adult Americans, 30 percent of millennials have no best friends, 27 percent have no close friends and 22 percent have no friends at all.
They probably have problems forming peer-to-peer relationships because they had zero siblings and often enough only one parent. Thanks Beave Meister.
Too many churches are country clubs for the religious inclined. Last thing most churches need is more social outreach - bringing in the unconverted and giving them no reason to convert.
Jesus said “Repent”, not, “We have great pot lucks and an amusement park for the kids!”
Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh
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