Living alone - Isolation

[OneEyedUK]

So a very quick question for you all, won't really apply if your still living at home or in a relationship...

What's the longest you have gone without seeing another human being in person??

SO if you've been shopping, doesn't count, cause you will have seen people..
If you've been for a walk and someone has walked passed you, doesn't count..
and if you disappeared into the wilderness for a camping holiday.. doesn't count cause there is no one to see...

I mean, locked away.. on your own.. no physical contact AT ALL!!

I ask because by the time I wake up and read this is will be a whole week since I last left my flat and last saw another human!

 

[Caerula]

When I was still a student I used to spend my entire summer/winter breaks (2 months?) at home. I lived with my parents but I don't see/talk to them. Partly because they work a lot, but mostly because I barely left my room.

 

[theofylus]

Yeah my longest time was probably when I worked on my Thesis over Christmas break. I went for probably a 1-1 1/2 weeks. Nothing crazy, but the only reason I saw people was groceries. It is hard to get around that one.

 

[J Rider]

I quit working for over a year and actively avoided people, I'd even wait till after midnight to go collect my mail or shop at a 24-hour grocery. Probably two weeks was the longest for me.

 

[amatin]

I think about 3 weeks with zero contact, 3 months with very little. I slept throughout the day, didn't leave my room, and ate less than once a day. I Would physically cower beneath blankets to avoid possibly being seen if anyone might have been coming.

 

[millefeui]

For about three to four years. I guess 2011~2015 or so, I barely saw any people other than the two other individuals where I live. I was very much a recluse and was fine with that. All I wanted was death, anyways. Then I started consulting a psychologist and I fell into the trap of having hopes and dreams, so I started doing stuff outside and socializing a bit (even though I don't like it, not because is bad, but because of other reasons). Well, hope doesn't last long, so here I am. Nowadays I have to see people two to three days in a week since I am taking drawing classes and I am thankful when there is almost no one at that place, other than the teacher. I also enjoy when my so-called father takes me there so I don't have to catch a bus full of people.

It is not quite what the OP asked for. The most I lived by myself, alone, seeing no one, wasn't for longer than what, two weeks at most.

 

[anna]

[QUOTE = "OneEyedUK, post: 129, member: 29"] Así que una pregunta muy rápida para todos ustedes, en realidad no se aplicará si aún vive en casa o en una relación ...

¿Cuál es el tiempo más largo que has pasado sin ver a otro ser humano en persona?

ASÍ QUE, si has estado de compras, no cuenta, porque habrás visto personas ...
Si has salido a caminar y alguien te ha pasado, no cuenta ...
y si desapareció en el desierto para unas vacaciones de campamento ... no cuenta porque no hay nadie para ver ...

Quiero decir, encerrado ... por tu cuenta ... ¡sin contacto físico EN ABSOLUTO!

¡Pregunto porque cuando me levanto y leo esto será una semana entera desde la última vez que salí de mi apartamento y vi a otro ser humano por última vez! [/ QUOTE]
For now, a month and a half

 

[Vox]

I went around 6 months living way up north, practically the Arctic. Once a month I would drive 20 miles to the closest town and stock up on groceries. I had exactly 1 conversation with a checkout cashier the whole time, she was wearing blue, the rest is a blur. No phone (not that I had anyone to call). If I didn't have my dog with me, I would'nt have survived.

Thinking back, I think that was the experience that broke me. Now even though I live around people again, I don't see them as people but more like scenery. Psychologists are right about one thing: isolation is really bad. But I guess most of us don't have a choice.

 

[anna]

I always wanted to live like a hermit, but it's not easy. Although I prefer solitude to human company, surely you are right and absolute or almost absolute isolation has negative consequences.
And yes, certainly many times we have no choice.
They push us.

 

[ChizuruN]

I wish I could go even a day without physical human contact.

Lately I've been isolating myself as much as is possible, even though it's not really "isolating myself" given that I have to go to classes and see other human beings every day.

 

[Imaginos]

A few weeks, I think. When both my parents were away for a little while a few years ago. Although, even then. I wasn't totally alone since our cat was still there to keep me company. Putting my parents aside, I literally haven't met, or spoken to, anyone else in the flesh on my own in almost 11 years. Only exceptions being some dentists (3-4 times total), a psychiatrist's assistant (only once) and a case worker (3 times total over a couple weeks), spread out over the years. Even before then, aside from teachers and going to school, I never engaged with anyone and isolated myself as best as I could. Nowadays, since becoming a hermit, I only leave my room to use the bathroom, or to make myself some food in the kitchen. The rare times I'd go outside would be for short walks late at night with my mom, since no one else would ever be around. I haven't done that for a long time now, though. I've also never really interacted much online. Never been part of a community or had online acquaintances, let alone friends, I could talk to. Up until early 2016 I'd never engaged with anyone online at all, besides on troubleshooting forums when I had a problem with something technical. Since then, I've made some sporadic posts here and there, but that's about it. It's kinda nice though, since before that time if I didn't speak to one of my parents, I spoke to no one. Then again, I spent essentially all of 2017 saying nothing online, while barely saying a single word to either of my parents, so I don't know. Hopeless, I guess.

 

[EuroMan]

So a very quick question for you all, won't really apply if your still living at home or in a relationship...

What's the longest you have gone without seeing another human being in person??

SO if you've been shopping, doesn't count, cause you will have seen people..
If you've been for a walk and someone has walked passed you, doesn't count..
and if you disappeared into the wilderness for a camping holiday.. doesn't count cause there is no one to see...

I mean, locked away.. on your own.. no physical contact AT ALL!!

I ask because by the time I wake up and read this is will be a whole week since I last left my flat and last saw another human!

Longest Time for me being two month.I not seeing people for two month.

 

[Santiago]

4 months

 

[Santiago]

Unless you also consider watching TV etc 'seeing people'

 

[Tiburcio]

When I was a kid I could do it for years but I was forced to interact with the others mindless childs. I was in home for... six months or so?

Now it's a lot less time, before I really wanted to avoid human contact, I already hated them when I was very young.

 

[ReleaseMe]

4 months

what did you eat? did you have supplies for 4 months??

 

[FTL.Wanderer]

So a very quick question for you all, won't really apply if your still living at home or in a relationship... I ask because by the time I wake up and read this is will be a whole week since I last left my flat and last saw another human!

I worked for 1-year straight remotely over a 3-hr drive away from the nearest town and 45-min away from the regional library. During the fall, the weather was extremely foggy and during the winter, icy--both making driving treacherous. From late October until June, when I finally packed up and moved, I lived in a cabin in the mountains living off well water, lumber I cut, dried and frozen foods supplemented with produce from a small greenhouse attached to the cabin. I had no friends so no one to call or email or text. And my nearest "neighbor" was a trigger-happy, gun-toting recluse over 12 miles away by car.

So about 7 months. I was incessantly suicidal and it's how I ultimately met the "friend" who'd defraud me of my life savings. Loneliness can kill in many ways. The last time I had any substantive contact, as in an authentic conversation with someone else, was over 20 years ago. With age, it gets worse b/c no one wants to interact with you. The most kindness you hear maybe monthly is a check-out person at the grocery store say "sir" (or "ma'am") without looking at you as they hand you your groceries while looking at someone else. :/

 

[EuroMan]

I thinking 2 month long time.You 7 month ! I go crazy after 2 month.

 

[Santiago]

what did you eat? did you have supplies for 4 months??

Guess my situation is a bit unique. I still live in my parents house except my mother has passed away and my dad lives with his girlfriend somewhere else. He would drop by every saturday morning (as always, he didn't know there was something going on with me) to drop off food.

I would never see him though. He would be there very early in the morning and I was always in my room.

Would basically just drop off the food and leave again aswell.

Guess you can still consider that isolation as I indeed saw nobody for those 4 months.

 

[Final Escape]

I never could go very long bc I always had to make money to support myself. So it forces me to make contact and without going longer than maybe a week at most or under a week. I had to have contact with pple in one way or another as a result of having to buy my own food etc. I simply couldn't avoid people that long.

 

[Final Escape]

A few weeks, I think. When both my parents were away for a little while a few years ago. Although, even then. I wasn't totally alone since our cat was still there to keep me company. Putting my parents aside, I literally haven't met, or spoken to, anyone else in the flesh on my own in almost 11 years. Only exceptions being some dentists (3-4 times total), a psychiatrist's assistant (only once) and a case worker (3 times total over a couple weeks), spread out over the years. Even before then, aside from teachers and going to school, I never engaged with anyone and isolated myself as best as I could. Nowadays, since becoming a hermit, I only leave my room to use the bathroom, or to make myself some food in the kitchen. The rare times I'd go outside would be for short walks late at night with my mom, since no one else would ever be around. I haven't done that for a long time now, though. I've also never really interacted much online. Never been part of a community or had online acquaintances, let alone friends, I could talk to. Up until early 2016 I'd never engaged with anyone online at all, besides on troubleshooting forums when I had a problem with something technical. Since then, I've made some sporadic posts here and there, but that's about it. It's kinda nice though, since before that time if I didn't speak to one of my parents, I spoke to no one. Then again, I spent essentially all of 2017 saying nothing online, while barely saying a single word to either of my parents, so I don't know. Hopeless, I guess.

Holy shit lol! That's serious hikikomory or however u spell it.

 

[Luke]

Probably weeks. I ordered food from different places and left a memo to just drop it in front of the door, money under the doormat.

I had to go outside to buy cigarettes every few weeks.

 

[whingebag]

Not long enough.I wish i could live alone.

 

[agreement]

Around a week, something more maybe.
I live alone, but I have to do the groceries anyway.

 

[Volatile]

So a very quick question for you all, won't really apply if your still living at home or in a relationship...

What's the longest you have gone without seeing another human being in person??

SO if you've been shopping, doesn't count, cause you will have seen people..
If you've been for a walk and someone has walked passed you, doesn't count..
and if you disappeared into the wilderness for a camping holiday.. doesn't count cause there is no one to see...

I mean, locked away.. on your own.. no physical contact AT ALL!!

I ask because by the time I wake up and read this is will be a whole week since I last left my flat and last saw another human!

2 weeks

 

[Jon86]

Probably around 2 weeks after a large grocery haul. I've lived alone for around 8 years and can never have enough alone time. I used to be social but i've found comfort in isolation.

 

[FTL.Wanderer]

I ordered food from different places and left a memo to just drop it in front of the door, money under the doormat.

Must remember this...

 

[Aponia & Ataraxia]

9 days - High Uinta Wilderness, Utah (10,000' - 13,000' elevation) (75F/50F day/night) 7/2011.

7 days - Canyonlands vicinity, Utah (4,000' - 6,000' elevation) (70F/45F day/night) 11/2015.

No traces of human existence (excluding airplanes, satellites)

All the creature comforts (food, water, wood for heat, spare clothing, solar camping shower, portable battery, bluetooth speaker, etc.)

unadulterated solitude & autonomy

*A thought-experiment: Imagine editing/cutting your world line. Only the moments featuring pleasant sensations & emotions (1. which did not come at the expense of any others, and, 2. were not had during extrinsically-motivated goals, e.g. work, something you wouldn't have been doing voluntary, non-autotelic activity) go into a pool of intrinsically pleasant experiences / reference frames of choice. What fraction of your total temporal duration could be labelled: intrinsically pleasant experiences / reference frames of choice?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autotelic#Flow

The above is similar to a counterargument of the Experience Machine. The philosopher who proposed the experience machine subsequently concluded that we ought not to opt for it, instead continuing to live in a world where duration costs entropy, --instead of opting for a world where duration would be free. Brigard's counterargument then exposes Nozick's conclusion as [quite obvious?] status quo bias: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Experience_machine#Counterarguments

"...for if life, in the desire for which our essence and existence consists, possessed in itself a positive value and real content, there would be no such thing as boredom: mere existence would fulfill and satisfy us." --Arthur Schopenhauer

 

[Mizule]

Nine and a half weeks.