Im really not getting it. there’s seems to be stark difference between the two, help me understand it if u can. also the importance of both, whether they are equally important or not.
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When people _feel_ sad, you can _see_ them crying. Loneliness is a feeling. Social isolation is something seen. You can be isolated and not feel lonely or be surrounded by people yet feel lonely. It is a sense of need for human connection that is fulfilled or when unfulfilled becomes loneliness. But someone may have little need so are content with being alone.
Comes up in the setting of alienation, where we feel isolated and disconnected from others even though we are more than ever connected to each other.
These two terms may be interchangeable in many contexts. However, I would draw the following comparison.
Loneliness is a feeling or mental state, and usually denotes an involuntary condition that someone is suffering through.
Social Isolation is a situation, it may lead to loneliness, or it may not. Social isolation may be voluntary or involuntary.
Loneliness can be defined as the lack of meaningful connections within particular social circles. This can be visualized by a surface level relationship with the people around oneself, but not much depth.
Social isolation on the other hand, is the lack of human connections altogether. While this can be voluntary or involuntary, the result is a void which the mind struggles to manage effectively.
In terms of importance, loneliness can be debilitating due to apprehension towards opening up. The question which manifests itself would be “Even if I tell someone, they wouldn’t care” Socially isolated individuals would likely struggle with the question “Is this question even worth asking, I can manage it alone”
Loneliness is a feeling.
Social Isolation is generally considered a choice that could’ve been made with good intentions or could be a choice made due to depression or other mental illnesses.
You might be confused because you can use ‘socially isolated’ as an expression to describe how you’re feeling in which case you could interpret it as another way of saying feeling lonely.
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