Shared Links (weekly) April 12, 2026
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Sharing – The Loneliness Epidemic
It requires so much more effort to even have basic interactions anymore. We’ve spent decades designing society this way. It’s not just a personal failing; it’s the entire system. Changing the system can’t be done by one person. But Mandy has some small steps we can take, and if enough people start taking them, maybe we can make some progress and shift the design toward something less lonely.
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Sharing – New research illustrates how live events foster social connection
If we’re going to become a less lonely society, we need to take advantage of opportunities to gather together. It’s that simple. It’s also becoming more challenging to do as we hide behind social media and news media, more interested in keeping us afraid of “others” so that we will continue to give them our attention.
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Sharing – The startling emotional health benefits of serving others
We talk about loneliness as a mental health issue often. We complain about the lack of third spaces in society. We complain about how people don’t reach out anymore. What we likely don’t talk enough about is how volunteering to help other people is an antidote to all of that.
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How to Make Sure Someone is “Seen”
It doesn’t sound like much. At the same time, we see so little of this in our daily interactions that it doesn’t take much to stand out as a good partner, friend, or boss. The bar is not set very high, but it does require sitting still with someone and focusing on them for that time.
How often can most of us say we do that?
Is it any wonder we have such a problem with loneliness?
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Sharing – Hopelab Report Finds Online Communities a Lifeline to Rural Youth
The same thing is true of adults, and this is why the lack of places where we can talk about difficult things without someone threatening to “ban” sites is also dangerous. We are cutting off the community that so many people desperately need.
