15 January

Putnam is one of the main people who identifed how societies are now structured like high schools. His work is also a bit famous for showing that smoking and being a social outcast are about equally as damaging to peoples' health. On that latter point, I think it really depends on how a person understands the importance of social connection. What social media has shown is how uniquely toxic social connection can be as well, I would say far more toxic than being alone. Aloneness is only a problem (paradoxically I think, using Putnam's ideas) from inside culture as a high school. Of course it's going to seem terrible, from that perspective. We are all really alone, life is about arriving at the point where we understand that. It's also the only basis for healthy social connection.