How loneliness eats away at democracy…. And how Gen Z can reverse the trend
It was sadly ironic that the day a lonely, disturbed young man tried to assassinate the former President, the New York Times featured an interview with Harvard professor, Robert Putnam, entitled, “Robert Putnam Knows Why You’re Lonely.”
Rather than receive national attention it deserved for helping to explain the division in our society today, it was understandably overlooked because of wall-to-wall coverage of the assassination attempt.
But I’m bringing it back because the concepts he discusses are in large part the recipe we need to follow in order to restore healthy levels of community fabric — and to even higher levels than we have seen before.
In it, he states (for instance), “My work… is designed to show you how it is that joining a club — even a trivial pinochle club or whatever — does help democracy. That’s what my work is designed to show. It’s only by connecting with other people that we generalize from our experience. In [a] club, you learn that you can trust other people, and learn in a way what you need to do to maintain that trust.”
Gen Z
And that takes us to Gen Z, (ages 12–27), and their role in building a better community. I recently was interviewed by founding_up for their Uncharted Podcast. Their goal is to engage with Gen Z about their anxieties, fears, and hopes for the future.
I’m including the interview in this newsletter because the questions asked by the Gen Z audience reflect the concerns of the economy, jobs, the future of work and most importantly — building community (and how to engage more with their peers in person).
Share this Newsletter
If you enjoy this newsletter, I encourage you to share with friends. If you have more Gen Z in your life, please forward to them for their thoughts too.
Let me know what you think and what they think too.
Join a group with others that want to get involved
If you want to find a network for activism, check out Unified. They are creating a community for people who want a dedicated platform for engaging with others trying to build a better community. (In full disclosure, I have been working with them as an advisor from day one).
Let me know what you’re hearing.
Take care,
Joseph
Joseph Kopser
Co-Founder, USTomorrow.us
