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A Society in Need of Physical Touch

What we are doing wrong, and what we need to tell the public about it.

By Andrew BryantPublished 7 years ago 3 min read
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https://broadly.vice.com

Have you ever been standing on a bus and someone accidentally brushes your hand with theirs, and you just get a sudden euphoric rush, simply from having another person touch you. You may be touch starved. I never thought there would be a term for it, I always just thought I was lonely and couldn't figure out why. This has helped me realize a few very important things that are helping me, albeit slowly, turn my life around.

I have been dealing with depression for years now, I am currently 21, recently left my job due to personal issues with other co-workers, and have been trying to mentally turn my life around, or at least figure out why I feel the way I do. I have found some very interesting things over the past few hours as I have been taking yet another day of my precious life and throwing it away, scrolling down Facebook and hitting refresh, hoping that something will somehow pop up and change my life forever.

The most interesting thing I have found so far is that the lack of physical touch actually has very detrimental effects on a human being. This can be as extreme as potential death in infants from lack of human interaction. In a less extreme sense, this has a very negative impact on somebody's life. It can be something as your body literally changing in terms of hormones, chemicals, and other psychological effects, aside from the "depression" that comes from being lonely. These "touch starved" people, honestly, just need a hug.

I think a lot of people have a hard time grasping this because of all of the negative aspects of society. Someone may just want a hug, where the person on the receiving end just starts running, screaming a man is trying to "take advantage" of them. This can obviously go both ways, or between two men or two women, but that is beside the point. Maybe I give people too much credit, or I have just lived a fairly sheltered life. I would consider myself pretty desensitized to things such a violence due to its portrayal in movies/videogames/etc...

What do I think we should do? Be more physical! I think people often confuse physical touch with sexual touch, it does not have to be that way. Cuddle up with a friend while you're watching your favorite TV show. Does that guy look like he needs a hug? He DOES, and I don't know about you, but I wouldn't say no to a free hug, would you? I believe we should look at "loving", more "physical" places in the world, like France for example, this isn't even a common problem, they are much more open to physical touch and it is more socially acceptable to be physically closer to people that are not just significant others, or people in close, sexual relationships. Physical touch does not need to be reserved for these people, go out and give a hug, you could make somebody's day.

I believe the increasing rate of technology, social media, and other things that makes things more "convenient", but also less human.

advicedepression
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About the Creator

Andrew Bryant

A new writer hoping to change the world one publish at a time. And make a few bucks, it's nice to sleep with a roof over my head and have food in my belly :)

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