why is socializing important?

planetweirdo

Well-known member
Do we really need to be social with others to be happy? I mean "social" as in being talkative and doing social activities, like going to parties and things like that. Is possible for a person to go thought life with out being social and still be happy?
 
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bsammy

Well-known member
ive wondered this many times.i grew up quiet as i didnt know what to say but after learning social skills, i thought i would somehow magically learn to enjoy socializing.this wasnt true, im still easily tired/bored during conversations.if you look at normal society, they would most definitely tell you you need to socialize and create relationships to be happy but the more i 'try' to enjoy relationships and the 'social' scene, the less i do.
 

jaim38

Well-known member
The only reason I can think of why we need to socialize with others is because we need something from them. At the doctor's office or hospital, we socialize with the doctor because we need the medical services/treatment that the doctor can provide us. At the grocery's store, we interact with the cashier because we need the cashier to check out items for us. At the bank, we interact with customer service reps because we need to them to perform banking services for us. Personally, we yearn for friends and partners to satisfy our emotional needs. Socializing has become a necessity that we can't live without, especially with the introduction of division of labor. Whether we like it or not, we have to socialize with people to get what we want.

The only way out of this is to be a hermit and live a self-subsistent lifestyle. Which means you gotta be jack of all trades. If you car breaks down, you fix it yourself. If your toilet backs up, you are your own plumber. This way, you avoid social interaction. I think it's possible to be a hermit, sever all ties with society, and still be happy; some people have done it so it's not impossible.
 

EscapeArtist

Well-known member
Ever played the SIMs? You know that social meter? You know how a SIM gets when it gets low? The SIMs has more wisom than ya think...
 

jaim38

Well-known member
ive wondered this many times.i grew up quiet as i didnt know what to say but after learning social skills, i thought i would somehow magically learn to enjoy socializing.this wasnt true, im still easily tired/bored during conversations.if you look at normal society, they would most definitely tell you you need to socialize and create relationships to be happy but the more i 'try' to enjoy relationships and the 'social' scene, the less i do.

As an introvert, I don't want and don't enjoy socializing for the most part, but I need to do it. It's like your parent telling you to eat your vegetables because they're healthy for you but you don't want to.
 

Zod

Well-known member
No matter how you twist and turn it, humans are social animals. And connecting with others is massively important for our mental health. That doesn't mean having to be a social butterfly who visits 5 parties a week, but atleast some level of friendly contact, wether it's with friends, family or the baker. Why is this? I'm not a psychologist, but I feel it's just some sort of self-reaffirmation that we need, a human need to be acknowledged and feeling validated. And to express yourself. It gives the necessary self-confidence and provides a support group to be a proactive person in society and the world in general.

People who don't think socializing is important have probably been hurt a lot, formed some sort of protective shell and see most the world as their enemy or antagonizing "social butterflies". Whilst this is understandable, it's really a counterproductive way of thinking imo.
 
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Ever played the SIMs? You know that social meter? You know how a SIM gets when it gets low? The SIMs has more wisom than ya think...

The Sims also teaches you whether you're a psychopath or not..

By the end, all my lots were filled with tombstones and urns. *cough*
 
It is definitely possible to live a happy life as a reclusive an minimally social person. But social behaviour does bring it's benefits. Social behaviour significantly boosts opportunity availability and certain types of help.

The trick is to find a balance between the two in which you are comfortable, but not utterly without friends or help.
 
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We need to socialize with others to function in our lives and be a part of society, the world revolves social interaction on some level or another. We also need social interaction for our brains to even function properly, particularly with language among many many other things. That's exactly why people with problems socializing can be so disadvantaged. We need a job, friends, etc in most cases to be 'happy' and live independently, and all of that involves interacting with others.

I believe that almost any person needs some sort of a social life to be successful and satisfied with themselves in their own life. Social phobia is a huge obstacle to suffer from, it restricts us from so many basic things we really need as humans to function on a basic level. When we can't do that, I think it can make us depressed, have low self-worth, withdrawn, and sort of give up, etc. That's what it does for me anyways. I WANT to socialize, I'm just messed up and can't do it properly. If socializing wasn't as important as it is, why would problems like this exist? I really with social intelligence was high on my radar, then I might actually have some hope for the future.
 

Flanscho

Well-known member
Well, it's one of our most basic needs to spend time with other human beings. Of course there are exceptions. A tiny number of people doesn't need it. And if they are happy without it: who cares? But for the huge amount of people: you won't be really happy without it.
 

Pacific_Loner

Pirate from the North Pole
Do we really need to be social with others to be happy? I mean "social" as in being talkative and doing social activities, like going to parties and things like that. Is possible for a person to go thought life with out being social and still be happy?

I'm definitely happy and I'm definitely not social.

I think there is a part of your life where it is necessary to be a minimum social to be able to function: work, family, and be social enough to have 2-3 good friends to do activities with.

But if you don't enjoy being talkative, doing social activities, going to parties, hanging out with people just for the sake of it, I really can't see any reason to do so. My few friends know who I am and they don't need me to pretend to be someone else. It won't make you happier, unless you actually WANT to do these things but you're too scared.

Mostly because not socializing is bad for your physical, emotional and psychological health.

Social Isolation Kills, But How and Why?

The conclusion of the article is that they should make more research because they only have hypothesis and no facts :p
 
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Odo

Banned
The conclusion of the article is that they should make more research because they only have hypothesis and no facts :p

That doesn't really change the fact that isolation causes health problems... they're just not sure why it does.

And there's a pretty enormous difference between having 2 or 3 friends and being isolated. You don't need to be meeting all kinds of people all of the time... it's when you have 0 friends and 0 people in your life that you're in so much danger.

Having 2 or 3 friends, being married, having a family but wishing you had more people in your life, etc... isn't isolation.
 

Odo

Banned
The only reason I can think of why we need to socialize with others is because we need something from them. At the doctor's office or hospital, we socialize with the doctor because we need the medical services/treatment that the doctor can provide us. At the grocery's store, we interact with the cashier because we need the cashier to check out items for us. At the bank, we interact with customer service reps because we need to them to perform banking services for us. Personally, we yearn for friends and partners to satisfy our emotional needs. Socializing has become a necessity that we can't live without, especially with the introduction of division of labor. Whether we like it or not, we have to socialize with people to get what we want.

That's not really socializing, though. You're not really making any sort of meaningful connection with those people you're just getting something from them... your relationships with those people probably aren't so different from your relationship with say, a vending machine or an automatic teller.

On the other hand, I think that a lot of people do socialize only to get what they want. They want to be entertained, or to feel important, or they need something like sex or status or esteem, etc... it's pretty rare that someone would socialize because they just like people.
 

Rumplestiltskin

Well-known member
Socializing is actually not that important, in global terms.

The only thing that we need to be happy is money. The bad news, though, is that we all have to socialize somehow to earn it.

However, it is only there, that interacting with people becomes important. Outside work, you don't really need anyone to enjoy things in life.
 
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¯\(º_o)/¯

Well-known member
In my opinion I think it depends in the person. I don't think that socializing is 100% nessisary.
If you don't want to be social then you don't have to be.

Me personally, I want to be social but am not, so that is a problem.
If you don't want to be social then you don't have to be, except to get the few nessesities you need to servive in life.

Just my .02
 

Goblinko

Active member
Because it makes us feel "alive" in certain ways ? IDK.

However, it is possible to be an introvert and live a reserved life with few friends.
You really don't need a "gazillion" friends to be happy.
 

Slytherin88

Well-known member
I suppose it comes down to WANT. Do you want to socialise? Or do you only WANT to socialise because society dictates you must?

I have gotten in my older age (haha) to the point where I'm like eff it, if I want to hang out with people I will. If I don't want to go to a party or something because I know I'll have a shit time then I won't go. My flatmates CONSTANTLY want me to go out clubbing in London. This will happen when I am dead in the cold, cold ground. Why should I do something I don't like? I stand up for myself more now than I used to, I used to go with the flow as I didn't want to get left out.. I spose practice helps, or find some like minded people who have the same interests who you might want to socialise with. Or if you don't want to talk to anyone, don't. Who says you have to?
 

coyote

Well-known member
at its basic level, "socializing" merely means interacting with other people

to do so successfully is an important skill to have should you choose to work at a job, go to school, shop at stores for food/clothing/other essentials, or live in a community WHERE THERE ARE OTHER HUMANS

if you don't want to do any of these things, and/or are able to provide for your basic human needs without the interaction of any other people, then socializing is not important

otherwise, it's like any other skill that helps you out in life - the more you practice it (even doing stuff that's not really important in itself) then the better you get at it, and you will be thankful that you had the skill when it IS important to have it
 
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