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If you lost your job, at least you’d have you friends to cheer you up — right? A new study from the Pew Research Center reported that 43% of people who had been unemployed for at least six months said they had lost contact with close friends. The loss of contact stems from a profound sense of shame that those without a job feel, especially when comparing themselves to their employed friends.
Experts say that unemployed people should focus on other areas in their life that fulfill them, like their family or friends. How have you coped with unemployment? When you’re out of a job, do you rely on your friends to encourage you, or avoid contact?
via The Juggle
totally agree…my unemployment “shame” prevents me from continuing to socialize with people outside of my family…and the effects are starting to affect my family members…I certainly understand that they don’t want to live constantly in my dark cloud of depression…so, I try to maintain my distance from them too unless I have something positive to report. Luckily, my wife’s work provides employee (and family) assistance and I am able to take advantage of some counseling in an attempt to get out of the doldrums. I never dreamed I’d be where I am just a week from my 50th birthday.
I agree with the finding since I am experiencing it right now. I have been unemployed for over a year and I have lost contact with some of my closest friends for the same reasons mentioned above. I have alienated my family as well. However, because my family and some of my really close friends didn’t give up on me, I haven’t turned into a veritable hermit. It is difficult but you must try your best to keep in touch, to get out and communicate and just hang out with friends and family. It is really important because they give you strength and help you move forward. Some of my friends I haven’t spoken to for months for shame of saying that I am still unemployed. It is a difficult road. I also agree with the comment below. FB is just a daily reminder of how everyone’s else’s life is moving forward and yours is not. But like I said, it is very important to keep perspective and live my life.
Yes! I think more people should be writing about this. Much has been said in the press and in the Blogosphere about Facebook etiquette, and how Facebook affects our social lives, but I haven’t found anyone talking about my situation. I worked for several years at a fun office, a place many people consider to be a dream employer. About 75 people on my Facebook friends list are from this company, which I was laid off from last year. What am I supposed to do? If I read Facebook everyday, I’m constantly reading fun things I’m missing, new projects I’m not working on, etc. I could ‘unfriend’ them, or ‘hide’ them, but then maybe I wouldn’t hear of a new position opening. So I haven’t done that. Instead, I just have a regular struggle of trying not to let news get me down. Technology is a bear.
As for my other, non-office friends, I see them just as much as I ever did, and they’ve been great and wonderfully supportive!