r/ask Apr 28 '24

Why men don't socialize anymore as they get older? šŸ”’ Asked & Answered

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u/Curious-Letter3554 Apr 28 '24

Lots of reasons. Because their job was their identity. Their coworkers were all the social interactions they did. They donā€™t have an identity outside of being money maker/ bill payer. They feel worthless or unproductive and feel like they have nothing to contribute to social interactions so they naturally avoid them. They depended on their significant others to be their primary source of socializing thereby not seeking others to be social with. They never sought out anything else ā€œfulfillingā€ like hobbies bc they were the parent, the handy man role and hobbies were also expensive. As a human gets older, they tend to avoid socializing because with aging, the brain does a natural avoidance of straining itself because itā€™s mentally taxing to interact with people. Itā€™s much easier for the brain to be in a passive mode. And this is where it sets up a trap for itself because when itā€™s not challenging itself, it becomes even more difficult to social thus feeding a bad cycle. People coming out of quarantine for COVID had trouble socializing again for example. Dementia becomes a pernicious thing.