"Add Silicon Canals to your Google News feed. You know that feeling when you scroll through social media and see your old college friends posting group photos from their annual ski trip, and you realize you haven't been invited in... three years? Or maybe four? I had that moment recently, and it hit me like a punch to the gut. Not because I particularly love skiing (I don't), but because it made me realize how many connections I'd let slip away without even noticing."
"Here's the uncomfortable truth: Most of us are unknowingly setting ourselves up for loneliness later in life. We're in our 40s, thinking we're just "focused" or "busy," but we're actually building walls that'll be nearly impossible to tear down by the time we hit 60. I've been studying this phenomenon, partly because I've made some of these mistakes myself. After my startup failed in my early 30s, I isolated myself out of shame."
"Rebuilding those friendships taught me just how easy it is to lose connections and how much harder it is to get them back. The research on this is pretty sobering. According to psychologists, social isolation in later life isn't just about feeling sad at birthday parties. It's linked to cognitive decline, depression, and even shorter lifespans. Yet most of us are sleepwalking into it."
Many people in their 40s stop making new friends and retreat into established social circles, which naturally shrink as people move away, drift apart, or die. A startup failure in early 30s can trigger shame-driven isolation, and rebuilding friendships is difficult. Psychologists link social isolation in later life to cognitive decline, depression, and shorter lifespans. Eight common behaviors in midlife greatly increase the likelihood of loneliness by age 60, and almost everyone exhibits several of them. Skipping opportunities to form genuine friendships and assuming busyness replaces connection are major drivers of long-term social erosion.
Read at Silicon Canals
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