That was a direct quote from me last weekend as we attended JazzFest in New Orleans.
I’m not saying that simply going to concerts is a replacement for therapy. Let’s make that clear up front.
What I was referring to was the healing power not only of music but also of the shared experience with a crowd of similarly minded people.
Maybe they’ve stumbled onto the simplest life hack there is for loneliness – become a regular somewhere. Exist in a space where people expect you to be and then be friendly while you’re there.
I don’t think that’s it. Not completely anyway. I think the real damage social media has done is to make toxic positivity popular. For every person celebrating their “good vibes only” lifestyle, there are at least 2-3 people who have lost a friend because they’ve been cut out by someone unwilling to be with them in their pain.
After all, if the goal is to eliminate all the negative people in your life, where do people go when they are in pain, grieving, or simply need support?
Nothing makes you lonelier than having no one to turn to during those times, and, increasingly, the message we are getting is to aspire to be that uncaring towards people in need.
This is a fine example of behavior that might make sense to us as individuals, but what happens when everyone engages in this same behavior? How do you find fellow survivors to build a support system or a sense of community with when everyone in that community is waiting for someone else to reach out?
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