Societal Dependency and Modern Isolation
Reclaiming interdependence in an age obsessed with self-sufficiency
What’s up everybody — Rosh here again. 👋
Like I promised, I’m trying to keep these coming at you on a bi-weekly basis, and here we are again.
I’ve been talking a lot about residency and medicine lately (for obvious reasons), but today I want to pivot a bit. Not entirely — I’ll still loop it back — but the main topic I want to unpack today is something I’ve heard from one of my favourite thinkers, Simon Sinek, and it’s this:
💭 Humans didn’t evolve to be independent. We evolved to be dependent on society.
Wtf are you talking about now?
We’re Built to Rely on Each Other
Let’s be real: we didn’t evolve because we were lone wolves. We evolved because we were tribe animals.
How do I know that? Let’s start from day one.
When you’re born — you’re literally 100% dependent. You can’t eat, walk, move, survive on your own. Your first experience in life is complete dependence. That’s not weakness — that’s just human.
Then what happened?
We formed tribes.
Not just for fire or food — but for trust, belonging, safety.
We told stories. We built empathy. We learned language.
We gathered in communities, then villages, then cities.
“The human body and brain are designed to release oxytocin — the chemical responsible for feelings of trust and bonding — when we are in safe social environments.”
— Simon Sinek
So, from a biological and psychological standpoint, connection was our evolutionary edge.
Even today — in the workplace, in medicine, in business — we see this play out. When people feel safe, when they feel supported, they bring out their best.
“When we feel safe inside the organization, we will naturally combine our talents and our strengths and work tirelessly to face the dangers outside.”
— Simon Sinek, Leaders Eat Last
That’s why great leadership is so important, because good leadership allows for teams to work together to maximize output. Its to inspire a team made of individuals, not a team OF individuals.
The Modern Shift: From Tribes to Isolation
But, a lot of modern trends and data show we are shifting away from that notion.
We’re in the middle of a loneliness epidemic. 😶🌫️
1 in 4 adults reports regular loneliness. over 80% of those individuals experience anxiety, depression, cardiovascular disease, and early mortality. It’s a public health issue.
Now, the pandemic fast-tracked a lot of this. But it’s not what is still fuelling it today. And, these trends were heading in this direction before COVID hit anyway.
It’s also:
The rise of remote work (which has been great in some ways, but also stripped away small daily social interactions),
the over-reliance on our phones, which were built to connect us and ironically, just isolate us more,
the development of AI and its applications,
and this massive cultural shift towards individualism as identity.
Here’s what I mean:
There’s this whole “grindset” culture — you’ve seen it — where people glorify working alone, cutting everyone off, staying inside to build, and avoiding friends, weekends, and life itself in the name of “success.”
Now don’t get me wrong — I’m pro-grind. I’ve made sacrifices too.
But this extreme version of independence is being marketed as strength — and honestly, I think it’s bullshit.
Success is about balance.
It’s about knowing when to focus — but also knowing when to lean on people.
From loneliness, we now see a lot of extremism communities being created. Communities that are so strongly rooted in a belief, that are formed out of preying on isolation. It’s the only real sense of belonging that a lot of members of these communities feel.
Let’s call one of them out: a lot of this “Sigma male grindset” content is just polished-up isolation.
The whole idea that being hyper-independent, disconnected, and emotionally detached makes you “strong” is BS.
It’s not just wrong — it’s unhealthy.
And it’s not just that the content exists. It’s that these communities are growing by targeting lonely, disconnected people, pulling them further away from meaningful relationships.
And there are so many communities like this out there: the manosphere community (shoutout Andrew Tate), the far left, the far right, the “that girl” community, the sovereign citizen community, the conspiracy-laden community, the parasocial community, the rise-and-grind entrepreneur community, and so on. All communities that prey on isolation subsequently create it.
So What Do We Do? We Rebuild Community.
If we evolved through connection — we thrive through connection.
You can’t build a billion-dollar company alone.
You didn’t get through med school alone.
You don’t survive residency alone.
You don’t save lives alone.
Even in my own journey — yeah, I worked hard. Yeah, I grinded. But I relied on people. I asked for help. And now in residency, I depend on my co-residents and team every single day.
“A team is not a group of people who work together. A team is a group of people who trust each other.”
— Simon Sinek
That’s not a weakness. That’s reality. And honestly, your ability to know your limitations and rely on others for assistance is what makes you good at something.
The Takeaway
I find it extremely interesting that society is trending towards isolation. It’s not even about whether you are an extrovert or an introvert. It’s just knowing that
We have to stop pretending that independence is everything.
🔑 Yes — independence is important.
But like anything, it’s only healthy in balance.
True growth comes from being interdependent (to a certain degree) —
From knowing when to carry yourself, and when to let someone else help carry you.
So here’s your reminder:
Build relationships.
Ask for help.
Redefine strength.
Reverse entropy (the whole point of reversing entropy is giving a piece of yourself to your society and people around you).
I know I kind of just rambled on a bunch of random stuff right now, but again I think the point and the theme to take away here is that independence, or extreme independence, is a strength, and that leveraging community and contributing to community plays an important role in our growth and in our development. And recognizing that, knowing that, creating those relationships, and asking for help is crucial.
Would love to hear your thoughts — I feel like this is a societal trend that is real and not really talked about enough. I feel like this is something that many people would disagree with me on as well.
Until next time,
Rosh
PGY-1 Resident
☕️ Weekly Coffee Count: 18 cups of coffee this past week.
PS. My thought process behind this concept is way more constructed in my head than what you read above. I had a hard time getting this down in writing. I honestly wasn’t even going to send this because of how trash this piece was from me. But, I sure can speak out loud about it, oddly. So, if you're confused af about this piece, but interested in it or have an opinion, come talk to me.