04-03-2019, 08:35 AM
There are loners in all generations, because of deep psychological factors:
-autistic people simply don't enjoy company
-people with avoidant personality disorder like me are too sensitive to criticism and being disliked, so socializing is not really enjoyable for us, unless it's with some trusted individuals. I used to go to parties in my late teens, before the avoidant traits started to manifest.
-people with schizophrenia and schizotypy are prone to paranoid suspicions, they often prefer to be alone for security reasons
-on old good Big 5, low Extraversion is enough to discourage people from having an active social life
Different generations have however different cultural perspectives on loneliness, e.g. the Transcendental writers praised "solitude of the self". Among Boomers' it was fashionable to be interested in Hindu or Taoist meditation. Still I don't think the prophetic generations are less sociable than civic ones. I take it for granted that many Boomers and Transcendentals meditated or spent time alone only because it was the "done thing" among their peers.
G.I.s? Remember they were drafted, so even if someone wanted to escape the conformity, he still had no choice unless he was ill. Men had to do the fighting, and women were "Rosie Riveters". Even before the war, the economic crisis was so severe there was no room for choosing one's lifestyle according to one's personality.
-autistic people simply don't enjoy company
-people with avoidant personality disorder like me are too sensitive to criticism and being disliked, so socializing is not really enjoyable for us, unless it's with some trusted individuals. I used to go to parties in my late teens, before the avoidant traits started to manifest.
-people with schizophrenia and schizotypy are prone to paranoid suspicions, they often prefer to be alone for security reasons
-on old good Big 5, low Extraversion is enough to discourage people from having an active social life
Different generations have however different cultural perspectives on loneliness, e.g. the Transcendental writers praised "solitude of the self". Among Boomers' it was fashionable to be interested in Hindu or Taoist meditation. Still I don't think the prophetic generations are less sociable than civic ones. I take it for granted that many Boomers and Transcendentals meditated or spent time alone only because it was the "done thing" among their peers.
G.I.s? Remember they were drafted, so even if someone wanted to escape the conformity, he still had no choice unless he was ill. Men had to do the fighting, and women were "Rosie Riveters". Even before the war, the economic crisis was so severe there was no room for choosing one's lifestyle according to one's personality.