6 Responses to “Social Isolation”

1. Social isolation can be a problem for single parent families where you may not meet the prevailing ideal and are thought of as a sad case or a failure. These families are often quite pressured with demands of work and study and home management even more intensely felt, however they still seek friendship and intellectual stimulation, and fun times with other families.

   Emma
   June 20th, 2009 at 4:36 pm

2. I moved out of North Sydney. I now live in the country where I feel at ease “as one”, and “at one with nature”.

   There is a long pole between “Social Isolation” and “Loneliness”.

   Some people are not comfortable with the extremes of ‘liberal-ness’ in modern society. Standards! What standards?

   I could contribute a lot more to my society, but I don’t like what ‘today’s society’ has become, or represents.

   Janus
   July 30th, 2008 at 3:31 pm

3. I think it should be noted that social isolation is not exclusive to the older generations, although I would agree that is an area to be targeted by regular home visits, group accomodation situations (not dodgy retirement homes, but think more share accomodation or something where neighbourly interactions are encouraged etc.) and of course more local events like the ones mentioned above to be planned by council (with available access for those who are less mobile and definately a strong effort to invite them, make them feel safe to attend, and if it’s free or low cost they won’t have to worry about their pensions. But aside from all that, social isolation also affects the younger people of today, we’ve all heard of the beginnings of it anyway with technology getting in the way of real person to person communication and connection. Now, don’t get me wrong, technology is a wonderful thing, but parents these days who grew up watching their parents and have moulded their style after them need to adapt to the problems and challenges of parenting today, especially with all these emerging technologies. Yes, computer games seem fine and it’s a lot easier to let them play that indoors than let them run on the streets off today or even play with those neighbour’s kids that you don’t know, but it’s teaching children to be homebody’s and isolated from an early age, not to trust other people and not to mention giving them an early start to lack of exercise and the beginnings of obesity and other health concerns.

   The younger generations of today (18 - 30 or so?) are mainly finding social stimulation through clubs, pubs and online entertainment. Unless they are lucky and have managed to find themselves a good group of friends who enjoy going to see exhibitions, films, live bands, more artsy stuff. And for those who are not lucky enough to fit into a group of thinkers, they only find social interaction at work, uni or school, then go home and sit on the computer or television. We need to find more activities for the young adults to participate in and gain social skills, this will help them in the workplace and in life. A lot of events by council and others are based on kids or the elderly, occasionally on teens, but not often, and not really on young adults. If they are, they are the kind of events that you need to go with friends (film festival?) and not designed for new social interactions.

   The kids of today, and young adults too, need help to gain some confidence and can-do that the older generations had so they can feel able to broaden their horizons and not give in to a life made in cyberspace. Their are more opportunities and jobs and technologies now than ever before, and yet, for all of that, our young (for the most part) do not feel confident or happy or feel their own value. We as a community and council need to help them regain their self-worth through social interactions, events, help, and invitations to participate in the bigger picture.

   Maybe then they will come to value the older generations too ;o)

   Jane
   June 15th, 2008 at 9:10 am

4. Social isolation can be reduced by adapting to the methods used by St Vincent de Paul (Vinnies) in their NIGHT PATROL that covers central Sydney CBD ..
   It allows people who are socially isolated to meet (at low cost) and communicate with many different people. Hopefully you can offer facilities for events in the park ….

   warren
   June 4th, 2008 at 9:17 am

5. I very much support this initiative, Social inclusion in our local community is becoming more of an issue as we continue down the track of an ageing population in which we may in the future be unable to retire from the workplace as traditionally done. This in turn creates difficulties in communicating in our local community, as time becomes scarce resulting in a void of communal interaction between demographics. This is not new yet is being heightened by our circumstance.

   As a resident of North Sydney I am concerned that people are suffering from this condition of isolation, having grown up in the area and then living in very remote Australia for eight years I can assure you that this problem is not an urban problem alone, one can feel very isolated in a community of one hundred people and of one million.

   I therefore point towards what Council is doing in the community with Precinct involvement. As an example last Sunday in Cremorne, the Bennett Precinct held a Community BBQ at a local park with a magician for kids and a latin American singer with harp for entertainment for the adults. This was the first Bennett Precinct BBQ for about fifteen years, long term locals explained how this was a usual event in the past and then stopped for whatever reasons.

   We had hoped for around twenty to thirty people at best to attend, with flyers and some door knocking and most importantly an atmosphere of friendly invitation. The Bennett Precinct attracted around one hundred kids and adults, a great community success. Interestingly, people did not come and then leave they stayed and chatted with their neighbours for about three hours, all felt a great community feeling and the residents requested we do something like this BBQ at Christmas.

   The outcome was clear, neighbours that work long hours with Family commitments and people not able to find a medium to communicate with their neighbours had found one, they were able to meet and great each other in a relaxed atmosphere. Isolation was removed by this event as the local community embraced each other’s company. I commend Council for their initiative on Precinct communal events and in this instance we have identified an area whereby people feeling isolated in our community maybe relieved of this serious issue of social isolation.

   John
   June 4th, 2008 at 1:08 am

6. We should remember that the key elements that can lead to social isolation are many. It may involve the loss of a partner or close friends, who have died or moved away; it may relate to a disability; or old age and becoming frail; it may be caused by limited or unsuitable transport; poor housing conditions; war time trauma; dementia; English as a second language; the closure of a social meeting place or activity; mental illness; and in certain cases it is an individual choice, for example when people chose to live alone, or in isolation and feel fine; they may even refuse social services when they are offered. To engage people who are socially isolated we need to offer more flexible services.

   Chris
   June 3rd, 2008 at 1:08 pm

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