Lose the Loneliness and Live longer. Meetup.
This is few days late ... but still a goodie. (It's actually still making the rounds in in newspapers across the nation.)
Last week a big study was released that basically stated how Americans are lonelier than ever. Among other depressing items, they concluded that Americans are "more socially isolated than they were 20 years ago separated by work, commuting and the single life."
How sad.
They also state how "Ties to a close network of friends create a social safety net that is good for society, and for the individual. Research has linked social support and civic participation to a longer life."
And our hero Dr. Robert Putnam chimes in with how "research has linked social support and civic participation to a longer life... Worrying about social isolation is not a matter of nostalgia for a warm and cuddly past. Real things are strongly connected with that..."
Thankfully, keen reporting by journalist Ely Portillo of Knight-Ridder, extolled the bright side as he revealed a force working to dispel this sad news.
That force? Meetup!
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Meetup.com aims to `restimulate local community in America'
By Ely Portillo
Knight Ridder Newspapers
"People do want to connect to one another," said Myles Weissleder, a spokesman for Meetup.com, which claims to have helped about 3 million participants do just that.
Conceived as an antidote to the social barrenness described in Robert Putnam's 2000 book, "Bowling Alone," the Internet site enables people to post ideas for "meetups" with like-minded people at a particular time and place. The goal, Weissleder said, is to "restimulate local community in America."
To that end, Meetup.com participants sometimes knit together. They study the Bible together, or Chinese. They play poker together, ride their Ducati motorcycles together and even somehow share their interest in vampires.
Meetups cost those who post them $20 a month or less, which participants often are asked to defray.
According to Weissleder, there've been more than 200,000 successful meetups in the United States and abroad.
"Our day and age makes it harder to connect: the long commutes, the-dual income families, the distraction of screens. People are lonely," Weissleder said.
"This is really providing a sociological good."