Capitalism is making you lonely.

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In a capitalist system, many people don’t have time to see family and maintain existing friendships — let alone create and nurture new ones. It is difficult to make time to see people when you are, for example, working multiple jobs (often with irregular shift times), commuting, caring for children and family members, and doing basic tasks like cooking, going to the grocery store, and doing laundry, sometimes all at once. Social time often necessarily gets bumped to the bottom of the to-do list. Public spaces in which to spend social time for free or cheap are also increasingly rare, and when money is tight, necessities get priority. These factors mean that busy social lives are increasingly reserved for those who can afford them.

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Another problem has to do with the ways in which capital flows have disrupted long-standing community ties. In rural towns and post-industrial cities, capital has fled. Young people in these places find themselves pulled to capital centers like London or New York in order to find good jobs.

Moving to the big city doesn’t necessarily mean alienation. In fact, for many LGBT people, major urban centers remain places where they can seek true community for the first time. But massive population outflows tend to be alienating, both for the people who leave and for the people who stay behind.

In other cases, community disintegration happens in reverse. People who grew up in city centers are pushed out by rising rents, scattering to cheaper locales. They may meet new people in their new communities, but bonds built over the course of years, decades, and generations can never be replaced.

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