Being cut off from other humans changes your brain. Here's the science on how.

[@shaybaye]

Makes sense. Going back into like monkey times, if you are alone it makes sense your brain would have to adapt to surviving alone. Being hypervigilant because there's no one else there to help. No one to watch out for threats, or look for the food, or search/keep for the shelter. No team.

[@sunnyquinn3888]

I was isolated from ages 14-37, it's complicated but the short version is it was kind of a situation like the Turpins where they kept their kids locked up at home for years, even the adult children. Except I didn't have siblings and my dad died when I was a kid so I only saw my mom. I've been back out in society for a couple years now but it's hard because emotionally and socially, in a lot of ways I'm still a teenager. I just had my 40th birthday and it's such a mindfuck because I don't feel 40 at all. I'm lacking so many basic life experiences that people normally have as teens and young adults. Sometimes it's hard to not be bitter, I lost what are supposed to be the best years of a person's life and I'll never get that time back. I have difficulty making friends, nevermind dating, because I don't really relate to people my own age, but I fear that socializing with people who are the age I feel comes across as weird and creepy.

[@MsGenXodus]

I spent just under a year isolated, primarily due to medical reasons, and feel like I missed something very important in my emotional development. I was 11-12 years old. I can't imagine how foreign everything must feel for you. I'm glad you are persevering.

[@buny0n]

You are what you do and when you do nothing and interact with no one you lose yourself. this is my 6th year socially isolated with no end in sight. i can't think; i have no motivation; i'm afraid of socializing because my personality has all but faded away; i rarely leave the house. my hobbies used to keep me occupied but now i can't motivate myself to engage with any of them. i've developed some kind of weird unconscious groan which I can only barely prevent myself from doing whenever occasionally in public. i spend my days walking in circles in my kitchen, groaning to myself - lost in shitty past memories, dwelling on botched opportunities, and trying to think of something i still have the mental energy to do with myself... but keep coming up blank. i can feel that isolation has changed my brain somehow. anyway, i'm pretty sure this is the end of the road. dipset.

[@Teamshmo]

Why no end in sight? Also, one huge tip that helps isolation is tracking things. You can track rain fall amounts, your calories per day, the stars, whatever you want. Giving your brain something to focus on and being disciplined is easy and improves your brain like nothing else. Create a chart and track things. Looking over it and seeing differences over time helps you focus and allows you to see you are doing stuff. Easiest is calories as you can use food tracker apps and it displays all the data with graphs etc over time.

[@HerrEngelsman]

Been there. Very similar to how you describe. Have you tried meditating? I needed to get out of my head - Constant stream of inner monologue. Wheels spinning. We can't think our way out of everything. You should probably try to get out more. If you don't want to be around lots of people, go green spaces, scenic cycle paths with trees, fields. Get a dog? Or other pets. Do you work? Get any fast food job. Have to start somewhere. I quit gaming years back after doing it too much because I felt bad about it. I'd probably go back to it soon now that I've sorted myself out. Join an online guild and use the speaking server, even if you just listen at first. Ventrillo/teams peak, whatever people use these days. Similar to what I mentioned with meditation, I would look into mindfulness. I watch a guy called Owen Cook. He talks about 'stifledness' being stifled. It's when you go withdrawn and reticent, defensive, uptight and don't act out. Like you (might be all or some of these things) stop singing, might stop laughing, making phrases/movie quotes/daft noises, hold posture stiff/wooden, don't project voice or might talk monotone. You need to get out of your head and into your body mate. Play, whatever it is, gaming, pool, kickboxing, dance. Don't live in hell mate. I had all of that. I'm getting better, have came a long way. Might want to look into Trauma. Guessing people have gave you sht, painful social interactions. Anger goes inwards. I was flat for years mate. Thought I was controlling emotions, being all stoic. It's inwards anger as defence mechanism. I was using colloquial 'cope'. You can make a better life mate. I had insomnia 10 years, didn't go out. Identified with social anxiety. Just stopped in the house most the time so many years, very bitter. I chased happiness, tried to force things too for a long time when I came out of it, material things. Aim to be CALM. Relaxed, have less demented, demonic thoughts haunting you. The glimpses of happiness start to happen later. Man I sincerely wish you the very best. God bless.

[@blaketheshepherd]

I know the *exact* groan you're talking about. I had it too after being isolated for a long time. Life became *so* much better when I started getting around people again more consistently (even though I really didn't want to at the time). Isolation DOES change your mind. Physically. It reduces certain parts of the brain. They did a study on people by isolating them in Antartica to prove it. Look into Tachykinin. Andrew Huberman has talked about it before. It's like your brain punishes you for being socially isolated by making you feel awful. I'd be happy to send you links if you want them.

[@ozzylepunknown551]

If you get bored by yourself it just means you're in bad company

[@Neha-bl2ec]

​@@HerrEngelsman it was really heartwarming to read, i am in similar situation 21yr old, ever since finished college cut off all ties with friends, i feel lonely most of the time but people make me scared. I have withdrawn myself from society,barely goes out in a week or sometimes months and spends most of the time in my room, gets very distracted easily, unmotivated often times and lacks discipline being painfully aware of all these makes it hell for me to go through my day,tbh im really ashamed of the way i have turned out

[@drkeikikane]

The music was way too loud for the narration. It was hard to follow.

[@nooriman5944]

Same

[@bbbenj]

Same!

[@nullakjg767]

I think everyone is being too hard on Sylvester. He had a long day chasing tweety bird.

[@nooriman5944]

null akjg I don’t understand what you’re teying to say :(

[@cormchm2853]

Aye, but it is really cool though isn't it /s

[@Kenjiro5775]

Everything we do changes our brains. Neural networks are constantly being reinforced or curtailed depending on our activities.

[@detectivewiggles]

On top of that, your experience of consciousness literally isn’t even specific to your brain. Emotions are inflammatory reactions happening all over the body. Vagus nerve often more important than brain

[@Kenjiro5775]

@@detectivewiggles I disagree, there is nothing more important than the brain. Everything you know, everything you are is inside that 2 kg mass.

[@detectivewiggles]

@@Kenjiro5775 You are dead wrong lmfao. Research Lawrence Afrin mast cell disease dysautonomia If medicine understood this stuff then mental illness literally would be gone. It still exists because doctors are arrogant clowns fed ridiculous lies by evil men.

[@detectivewiggles]

@@Kenjiro5775 Show me a functioning brain existing apart from the rest of the body. I'll wait. Your entire personality is your second secret immune system medicine literally hides because it makes them look dumb

[@detectivewiggles]

@@Kenjiro5775 You do understand the bulk of your neurotransmitters are manufactured in your digestive organs, right, and that millions of nerve impulses never even REACH the brain because the vagus nerve is already its own brain, right? Leading trauma experts have been talking about the vagus nerve for decades. It is only able bodied, privileged people like you who can afford to believe pathetic pop science. Medicine only ever almost killed me and I saved myself. This is just a dumb hobby to make you feel smart.

[@Armored11]

Being alone feels so good. Only interaction i get is with people at work, unfortunately.. Id prefer working solo if i could. I dread holidays or events that require visiting relatives. During covid time i was able to make excuses saying i have covid. A cousin got married little while ago and i was supposed to go congratulate him. Iv been procrastinating. Im looking at isolated states like Alaska or Montana to move to so i can be more isolated. Maybe all this is not healthy but i just dont want to hang out with anyone.

[@magicaree]

What about Buddhist monks who go into isolation for years? Where is the study there?

[@JH-qy8no]

They would call that solitude not isolation. The difference is solitude is being alone with a specific plan to focus the mind on one thing or task. Isolation is being alone binge watching on Netflix or video gaming without human contact in person. I don't think it's a coincidence that as isolated gaming and binge watching has increased in popularity there has been more frequent school shootings and bomb threats. If you add in the numerous medications kids are taking for anxiety and depression you get a really mentally unstable teenager. And teenagers already have the raging hormones to top it off.

[@magicaree]

Good point but why is this not factored into the study

[@treesart6914]

All these people were isolated in groups, weren't they? So they weren't actually isolated in the sense that they were on their own, they were in a group dynamic that was odd because the group was isolated.

[@LilladyTK]

No

[@debraaman6026]

Interesting video but narrator and sound quality made it difficult to hear.

[@pandahot586]

it's like the narrator is wearing a bracelet and his tongue seems have some problems like oversize.

[@davidonfim2381]

Yeah, the audio quality is not good. The narrator needs to talk more forcefully. Talk as if you're addressing a whole room, not as if you're whispering to your friend during a lecture.

[@curiodyssey3867]

Lol terrible, terrible pick for somebody to narrate. The lisp, the smacking of his tongue against his cheeks...ugh gives me shudders. Terrible.

[@indigenouscreatures7375]

I enjoyed the voice whether you did or not. I don't need forceful talk. It felt more personal as an isolationist. Very asmr

[@zachstorm97]

I watched this by myself and I turned the volume up and enjoyed this video. if you want someone to drink energy drinks and yell at you keep looking it’s out there

[@LilladyTK]

I got good audio idk what's wrong with your feed

[@LilladyTK]

​@@curiodyssey3867then get out of our country hater

[@TheFroperson]

This should also include prison solitary confinement, 'authoritarian enforced isolation with no thought for the person, just punishment by isolation ~ mental torture.

[@maryanncrody4867]

If I had access to internet and electronics I could do solitary for years see mbti

[@maryanncrody4867]

Since I was a child I always though Antarctica as an idea job I was a bullied child at school and my mother was a narccistist and my dad an alcoholic I learned to be alone to have peace and I was married twice had kids and learned so called normal people can hurt you even more I find isolation peaceful survivable and leads to contentedness

[@IsabellaHale]

I can not imagine.. my mother was German,, and my grand father was scientist and I learned a lot from her (long dead) which she told me that people are just talking about now. People are made to be with other people. It takes a lot of guts to do that. The closest I ever was to being alone but I was not afraid was in a big ski resort..where there no other skiers around but I knew I would get to the bottom of the slope.. which I did. eerie feeling. Social isolation is used in psych wards.. which is I think cruel but it is done there.

[@maryanncrody4867]

If isolation is so bad why do I love it?

[@squirrelcovers6340]

It is only bad for extroverts😉

[@blaketheshepherd]

Are you alone all-day every-day?

[@maryanncrody4867]

Yes

[@maryanncrody4867]

Except sundays if I can get to chirch

[@blaketheshepherd]

@@maryanncrody4867 interesting. I find it madness inducing lol

[@joshuabuchtel2346]

Voice of the narrator is terrible.

[@nullakjg767]

Seriously, can they not find a single person who doesnt have a lisp? Presentation matters even in science. Ill redub this video in a clear general american accent for 200 dollars. This is a serious offer. I assure you its worth every penny as I wont slur my words like drunk dude with a swollen tongue.

[@nascentcomplacence3302]

Idk, I don’t mind it. 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@CarloTeofilo]

I’ll do it in a weird Italian accent for 1$

[@tw8464]

Is this the "code" you all are using now? Why all the same fake "comments" bandwagon? Did you all have a meeting at night or something?

[@rebajeanforever3700]

But they have a end time with others they don't know when their isolation will end. So I'm not shock that they had a good out. Homelessness and pandemic is DIFFERENT!

[@zakarofur4305]

The narrator lisps too much...

[@PJB-To-be]

Sounds like an alphabet sort. Nothing negative, but I do feel more suspicious because of that voice.

[@DrJohnWatson8]

Narrator is terrible, I can barely understand what he or she is saying. I had to out the captions on. Not only are they inarticulate, but they lisp, are too nasal, and have vocal fry. Honestly it is as if they purposefully hired the least qualified voice actor who auditioned.

[@DrJohnWatson8]

*put

[@nuclear-meltdown]

I think it's time to come up with experimental protocols that doesn't involve hurting animals.

[@JuliusUnique]

ty for this video, it was really interesting!

[@L_24678]

Child neglect in a nutshell and emphasis on INTERVENTION AND COMPASSION. Post traumatic growth is a real thing and it’s not just toxic positivity (ie denial). It’s ok to be confused about the difference but we need to get our shit together as a collective organism (Earth). Baby steps count.

[@bbbenj]

Music is way too loud to understand clearly what is said... 😢

[@maryanncrody4867]

My shrink tells me how resilient I am but gets after me for not having friends😅

[@TheElusiveReality]

Why is he whispering?? Please re-record this with a new narrator, one who speaks clearly and at a proper volume

[@tw8464]

Are you actually deaf or just exaggerating with nonsense for other purposes?

[@Awesomes007]

Get some headphones and find something more important to be outraged about.

[@GucciButNotGuilty]

WhiSSSSpering

[@voidoceanskye266]

He’s trying to seduce you. It’s pretty obvious.

[@JeDindk]

I would like to watch this video, but I gave up after 3 minutes - the sound is so bad and I can't understand what anyone is saying.

[@Kingtrollface259]

Been this way most of my life ,tbh I like my own company ,I'm good at staying out my own way

[@josephavila3539]

This data seems not accurate, personally, I become way more stressed when I am around others opposed to being isolated, hence, people’s brains react differently towards isolation. In the study, are the people that are getting tested more comfortable in isolation or less?

[@elsajohnson6663]

I wonder if people who are introverted adapt better vs. extroverts who need socialization.

[@melindadawn5]

My shrink used to tell me that in prison isolation is used on people that can't handle it, not on people who are good at it, because I prefer to be alone... I wrote him a letter after I was arrested and told him that after four days of being tortured and isolated, I went off on the guards for dehumanizing people which was against the law, after I watched the jail shrink tell some kid "good I'm glad you decided to cooperate with us after two weeks, we'll move you into a cell block and you can comb your hair, brush your teeth and take a shower and start felling like a real person again"... I saw red and blew up and was moved onto a cell block faster than the kid was... Jail is a bit different than isolating oneself outside of incarceration since the buildings produce a type of echo that's hard to explain... And most jails block out any and all windows so you can't see out and when you go outside you see no sky or trees or grass, the combination really throws off your equilibrium... I was happy to be around people in jail which shocked me, even though, the other individuals were not people I preferred to hang around. Outside of incarceration, I isolate myself often. I haven't left my house, willingly, in over 6 years, quarantining long before it was cool... I see my spouse whom, most of the time I'd prefer them to be and stay gone, and my parents stop by to drop things off once a week... My spouse gets upset with me often and tells me I have no idea how to interact with people and I tell them I do, I'm good at it, I just prefer not to and My spouse u Is the only one I seem to not be able to speak to properly so it sounds like they're the problem but then they tell me go name who I converse with since I don't leave and they tell me I have no friends... To which I reply that I don't desire friends..... When I isolate for long periods of time with no other human interaction, when I finally see another person or will talk their ear off... It's very weird...

[@squirrelcovers6340]

Solitude is Nirvana

[@maryanncrody4867]

The chaos of others minds is pathological

[@daveclarkeprofessionalvoic851]

I am a voice actor and the narration on this made me cringe. Who said "sounds great! Here's your money." The vo ruined the piece.

[@patrickblair2818]

Amazing ... It seems that we should exercise our brains by being social...

[@notnotknowing2946]

Quality time ?

[@Whoyouwishyouwere]

You get less exercise when you socialize with people these days lmao

[@syrus3657]

this is bullshit. im at peace when im alone.

[@accountuser9382]

Fantastic video thank you for sharing

[@bullshark9177]

The narrator ruins the video. Sorry.

[@jjaa]

Would be useful if they wouldn't mumble whisper mumble through entire video

[@xmeerzx]

YES MY GOODNESS!! they're freakin scientific American, they couldn't find a better narrator for the love of god!

[@SteveKirkwood82]

This was so interesting, but I only made 1:57mins in and I wanted to rip my ear drums out. WORST NARRATION EVER!

[@WJSpies]

Sound is bad and muffled, it's hard to break through the thicker German accents and others.. cleaner brighter acoustic spectrum in audio would help.. no thanks Scientific American channel!

[@justinwright4796]

I can't listen because the narrator is talking in an unnatural way.

[@stevenbauer2290]

Interesting video but the content didn't coincide with social distancing or what is going on during the 2020 pandemic. Unfortunately this will probably become one of many springboards of how companies in long term care foresee their community models needing to be designed in the future.

[@zuutlmna]

This is one of the reasons society needs to re-think worker retirement. We need to evolve some of our perceptions.. Isolation often occurs after worker retirement, doing more harm than good. We've got some pretty shallow views on some things, that, better understood, would probably add more quality to our lives. Thoreau intentionally cut himself off from society for its positive effects.. Distractions and thought-jamming are probably way worse now than in Thoreau's time. There is, as Thoreau believed, a great healing quality that can be achieved in experiencing Nature and solitude..

[@zuutlmna]

It's up to the individual to keep some mental enrichment going during isolation, which Thoreau probably practiced to his benefit..

[@zuutlmna]

Then there was Calvin Rutstrum... About his isolation experiences, he would likely have said: "Isolated!? Hardly! I'm surrounded by the busy minds I find in all the books that line the wall of my cabin."

[@zuutlmna]

Interestingly, one of Rutstrum's most popular titles: "Paradise Below Zero"..

[@detectivewiggles]

Lmfao bootlicker. The answer to isolation isn’t "make people work til they die." We could like....just interact with them as HUMANS not just economic robots. No wonder the world is so insane when people like you think the only answer to isolation is FORCED LABOR OF THE ELDERLY. Licking boots is bad for your health bud

[@F-Man]

Just remember - governments all over the world did this to their people under duress.

[@bubbajones44]

What is this narration. A lisp and terrible mic makes this video almost unwatchable

[@dragonore2009]

I don't know, I know one thing, I would absolutely love it, if I were alone, God, I would love that. I keep thinking about how wonderful it would be if no human being was around me for at least 25 miles. I've felt this way for a decade now, so are humans "social creatures", I don't know, I just know I want to be absolutely alone.

[@digglessmith9575]

Can't hear him

[@AbrahamNixons]

This man speaks way too quietly.

[@lroche3262]

That is what hell means to me

[@vgerkinte3202]

I can understand the stabbing

[@chatroom101]

Spoiling the endings to books is cruel

[@kokomanation]

You have to change the narrator very bad voice

[@PopsiclesInMyCellar]

Please don't speak with food in your mouth.

[@GalacticAdventures69]

Can you speak a little louder?

[@RobsMemoryLane]

Scientific American has gone downhill so bad. This is their worst video yet. Terrible narration. I need the closed captioning on.

[@Chryztallic]

One of the worst narrations I have ever witnessed

[@anar802]

Interesting research but the narrator's way of speaking is very distracting. He needs to speak more clearly and not not mumble at the end of every sentence. It made it difficult to follow.

[@winstonoboogie2424]

The EQ on this video is terrible.

[@justliving83]

WFH 🧑🏻‍💻

[@Orandu]

Unsucribing.

[@IAMTHESWORDtheLAMBHASDIED]

I'm a fucking anomaly......

[@Martist_1986]

Thilly goose

[@phillipchavez1321]

Woooo, I'm one of the first commenter on this vid.! Anyhow....that video title doesn't sound good.

[@phillipchavez1321]

Well shit....

[@xmeerzx]

What is horrible, horrible narration?!

[@dimitrijmaslov1209]

Hmpf.

[@wheres_bears1378]

Just grabbed my remote control to see if I could turn the gay down in this video

[@squirrelcovers6340]

Got a chub, didn't you?😂

[@wheres_bears1378]

@@squirrelcovers6340 😂 and I had a sudden urge to roll myself in glitter

[@NaanFungibull]

This voice feels like the very definition of a diversity hire. "Let's just use the gayest voice possible. Don't worry about their vocal qualities or the ability for people to understand them. Just any very, very gay or trans woman voice. That'll be perfect. Never been done before for science narration. Progress!" PS. You can chuckle at my comment and be annoyed by this voice and still cast a vote to save democracy. Please consider voting NO to a Trump dictatorship. NO to authoritarianism. Kamala is the only path to future normalcy for either party and our country as a whole.

[@deirdreberger1363]

Unsubscribing from a “science” channel that has gotten into politics.

[@SpiderByte616]

The current political climate politicized science; science has not changed but those who disagree with it unfortunately have.

[@stevenbauer2290]

There wasn't one thing about politics in this video.

[@stevenbauer2290]

There wasn't one thing about politics in this video.

[@Lostsage01]

Antarctica and space station. Absolutely zero politics here, stop projecting what you want to see into unrelated topics

[@VillemarMxO]

I think you've been socially isolated too long. Stay away from sharp objects!

[@jakedubs]

why do we have a gaywad narrating this

[@IsabellaHale]

I have known about the amygdala for years because I worked in medicine and when I retired from my real field of molecular biology I volunteered to help VET psychiatric patients.. w/ severe PTSD .. that is how I learned about the amygdala. RESILIENCE. yep. :) very interesting

[@Davidbeattiification]

The narration is almost unbearable. Seriously dude, get another job