Brian Wiesner

For me personally, meaningful social connections are the foundation and the multiplier of lasting happiness, but the starting point lies within each one of us.

In the end, we determine the quality of our relationships through the quality of our relationship with ourselves.

Spain's fix for a lonely planet

I think anemoia is partly why we’re seeing a rise in sales for flip phones in the United States, particularly among young people. I think that’s why Gen Z is moving away from dating apps

But what makes us

HAPPY

?

While this is likely a bit different for everyone, I believe that once we have reached the “love and belonging” step on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, we have already achieved a lot of happiness.

Human connection is absolutely key to wellbeing as found by many scientific studies. And conversely, social isolation has been... See more

Because I work in tech, which is a grossly overpaid industry, for the past seven years or so since I started writing, I have taken 4-6 months off every few years between jobs to write. This is a huge privilege, obviously (and maintaining the ability to do this is one of many reasons why I don’t think I’ll have kids and also why I work in tech). But... See more

This new model takes what we have learned from the Aggregation Era and finds a way to blend it with the independence enjoyed by the “sovereign writer”—or, to be appropriately expansive, let’s call it “sovereign creator.” It is, I believe, the natural model of the internet, taking advantage of the web’s massive scale and interconnectivity and... See more

That piece by Patrick Brown cites a whole bunch of data that questions the assumption that urban form necessarily leads to neighborliness. He writes, for example:

Small towns, lauded by Putnam for their high rates of civic engagement, often boast the kind of low-density development and heavy automobile reliance associated with the much-maligned

... See more

Better social nutrition

Social media feels like the “empty calories” of human connection. I’m filling my cup with connections, but they lack nutrition. They’re social donuts.

In its place, I’ve spent most of my social time in intimate and often vulnerable 1-1 conversations, usually while on walks in the woods.

I’ve been more present with my wife,... See more

When I arrived at the first of the many neighbourhoods that I would call “my barrio,” I was able to leverage proximity to quickly integrate into the local community with a level of Spanish that was enough to be able to make an effort. I took advantage of the low social barriers to entry. With a wealth of meeting places on my doorstep, I was able to... See more