1 in 4 Brazilians don’t feel close to anyone, says study

The image of a friendly Brazilian open to new friendships is less real than we imagine. A survey conducted in the country with 1,682 participants aged 18 to 77 years old showed that the quality of Brazilians’ network of relationships is low and that dissatisfaction in social interactions prevails.

It also indicated that face-to-face situations make us happier, favoring the construction of a broader network of relationships than virtual ones.

The results indicate that a quarter of the population has an impoverished network and does not feel close to anyone. The survey by Instituto Locomotiva, prepared by the Division of Gameficated Studies and Neurosciences, took into account a balanced sample, according to sociodemographic criteria, which participated via the online platform.

The neuroscientist Álvaro Machado Dias, professor at Unifesp (Federal University of São Paulo), columnist for Sheet and a partner at Instituto Locomotiva, says that the result was not surprising, but it was more intense than expected.

“The low interpersonal connectivity of Brazilians and the discomfort in dealing with strangers contrasts with the view we form of crowded little bars, but make no mistake: few circulate outside their bubbles”, he says.

This means that we are affected by direct contact and that eye contact allows us to be happier in our relationships. “The migration of personal relationships to the digital environment does not contribute to the formation of satisfactory and long-term interpersonal ties.”

The research arose from the thesis that Brazil has the highest anxiety rate in the world. “This generates a kind of psychopathological normality, characterized by low interpersonal trust. According to Latinobarômetro, only 5% of people trust strangers in the country, it is the lowest rate in Latin America and one of the lowest in the world”, he said.

The researchers concluded that face-to-face interactions are more comfortable than virtual ones for 22% of respondents —71% of participants said they were satisfied with real relationships, compared to 58% satisfaction with virtual relationships.

According to the data collected, Brazilians are more shy and affected by everyday violence than they appear to be. Most people really feel uncomfortable talking to strangers.

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Two-thirds of the population act differently towards people they don’t know, indicating a strong distinction between public and private personas in these people’s lives. Of those who declared a sharp divide, 42% said they also felt extreme discomfort interacting with strangers.

Dias attributes this social response to a combination of factors such as fear of violence (especially that caused by crime), social inequality with racist components and an unflattering view of the character of the other.

It also goes back to overwork combined with a lack of social devices that encourage coexistence, political hatred and excessive relational virtualization, the latter of which, for the neuroscientist, only aggravates the problem.

Therefore, those who have a wide network of relationships, for example, are more satisfied, even when interacting with strangers. Dissatisfaction when interacting with new people, incidentally, is present in 15% of the responses in the sample, a rate three times higher than that reported for acquaintances, friends and family.

Those with fewer or more superficial relationships, in turn, have a more latent dissatisfaction even when they are with people they know, indicating that the low quality of the network also affects the general perception.

Social networks and games are not negative in themselves, however they can be triggers for loneliness because they lead to more time connected to bubbles, to the detriment of personal relationships.

“These technologies have increased the anxiety and depression of young people and the loneliest people of all ages. There is still a real explosion in hate speech in games, reminiscent of what happened with Twitter and Facebook four or five years ago. “

For the neuroscientist, the great distinction is not between public and private, but between intimate and strange, and the ability to transition from one to the other. The reason more time connected is not proportional to bonding is the fact that a lack of closeness makes empathy difficult.

Vinicius Dalosto Pellegrino, 20, is a businessman and works with paid traffic, analyzing the potential for people’s interaction in the virtual world. Despite knowing how to find people’s preferences and information on social networks, he says that his network of relationships is stronger in the real world.

“You can count my friends on one hand. I have at most three people I really trust, besides my girlfriend, and they are all my cousins,” Pellegrino said.

The businessman lives with his parents and brother, with whom he has a good relationship, and says that these personal ties make it much easier for him to trust the other. “I think that both in real life and in virtual life I’m the same person. I just try to differentiate my professional life. However, I have a certain difficulty when I try to socialize with people I don’t know yet.”