Dublin - Lonliest city in the world?

Oriel

TheRegister wrote:

It's official: the good burghers of Dublin are the world's loneliest, narrowly beating Oz's Melbourne into second spot, with Auckland in NZ securing third place in the index of human misery and despair.

Trend history - lonely:
Dublin, Ireland
Melbourne, Australia
Auckland, New Zealand
Sydney, Australia
London, United Kingdom
Perth, Australia
Vancouver, Canada
Brentford, United Kingdom
San Francisco, United States
Manchester, United Kingdom

Really?

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/05/15/loneliness_index/

monkeyfudge

Cool... Cairo is the sexiest though.

Oh.. and I think a holiday in Sheffield is in order...
http://www.google.com/trends?q=monkeys&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all

Sleepy

I definitely would have agreed with that when I first moved to Dublin. I think the fact that so much of the population of Dublin is constituted of young professionals that have had to move here to find work is the main reason for this. It can be very lonely when you first move up and even if friends from home live here too, you can be quite far apart. This would be exacerbated by the lack of decent public transport so for anyone without a car, you can be 2/3 bus-rides away from anyone you know. It's easier (and faster) to go from one side of Paris to the other than it is Dublin because of their excellent Metro service.

Many companies, the one I work for included, have difficulty organising social club events etc. due to the dispersed nature of their employees. Most people aren't prepared to attend a social club event if it will involve having to leave their car somewhere overnight while they have a couple of pints/whatever.

I don't know if it's the loneliest city in the world, in fact I'd doubt it. Personally I can't believe New York isn't there and I'd find London a more lonely place myself but Dublin certainly can be a lonely place.

Shivvv

monkeyfudge wrote:

Cool... Cairo is the sexiest though.

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Hmmmm - I'm living in Cairo at the moment and can't figure that one out at all!!!!!!

robinph

Is that just based on the number of people that entered the search 'lonely' into google.ie compared with the .co.uk's or others then? Not exactly conclusive proof of anything other than you can use statistics to prove anything.

monkeyfudge

Makati in the Philippines...

Number 1 for gonorrhea!

There's a slogan and a half for the tourist board to use.

FillSpectre

I just think it shows how useless Google trnds are. Look at the refernce points what has Kaye West got to do with Dublin being lonely. THere is no way to see what it is based on.

Sleepy

Apparently we're all using lots of hookers too:

http://www.google.com/trends?q=escorts&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all

monkeyfudge

ha... poor Brentford seems to feature prominently in almost any search:

http://www.google.com/trends?q=viagra&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all

Haha.. no surprises for this one:

http://www.google.com/trends?q=scumbag&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all

Aaaah... look at all the lonely scumbags...

Heyes

I would have thought London would have beaten Dublin, but then again im not too suprised that Dublin featured high.

Chinafoot

Definitely wouldn't agree with Melbourne being higher in the list than Sydney.

Syndey is like London, fast-paced, materialistic and very lonely.

azezil

*sniffles* I feel so alone

masterK

In better news we are all champions

http://www.google.com/trends?q=champions&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all

Although we're letting our standards slip by not even making the top 10 of:
http://www.google.com/trends?q=alcoholics&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all
or
http://www.google.com/trends?q=drunks&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all

Diarmsquid

masterK wrote:

IAlthough we're letting our standards slip by not even making the top 10 of:
http://www.google.com/trends?q=alcoholics&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all
or
http://www.google.com/trends?q=drunks&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all

Click on regions in both of those.

turbot

I think loneliness is a way of being and an (unconscious) choice some people make

I meet people all the time, make friends all the time, have a very engaging social life, because I'm pretty outgoing and I talk to people a lot, and basically I set about making them laugh and feel better because I enjoy it.

I think when you realise this, all kinds of places are great opportunities, because in London for example, so many people are lonely and shy that any attention makes them feel better.

Same in New York, I was there for 5 days and I made loads of friends.

Thus, provided you have good intentions, and you make people feel good, you don't have to be lonely anywhere, because it's a natural human function to be social.

FillSpectre

What google trends actually means

" Google Trends analyzes a portion of Google web searches to compute how many searches have been done for the terms you enter relative to the total number of searches done on Google over time. We then show you a graph with the results -- our search-volume graph."

This could mean that people in Dublin worry more than anybody else about people feeling lonely hence a high hit rate. A hit song with the right words would also destort facts

jaggeh

http://www.google.com/trends?q=teen+suicide&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all

seven out of ten slots for the united states. the system works!
its like pre-crime

SpAcEd OuT

Gay List

1. Santiago Chile

2. Mexico City Mexico

3. New York United States

4. San Francisco United States

5. Buenos Aires Argentina

6. Los Angeles United States

7. Brentford United Kingdom

8. Chicago United States

9. Paris France

10. Milan Italy

SpAcEd OuT

1. Thames Ditton United Kingdom

2. Watford United Kingdom

3. Poplar United Kingdom

4. Sheffield United Kingdom

5. Edinburgh United Kingdom

6. Milton Keynes United Kingdom

7. Manchester United Kingdom

8. Birmingham United Kingdom

9. London United Kingdom

10. Bletchley United Kingdom


Wouldnt want to live in Thames Ditton apparantly they're the biggest ****

Terry

Diarmsquid wrote:

Click on regions in both of those.

with americans having such a han-up about alcohol, i'm not surprised by them being top.

Zaph

I reckon all the amount of Irish people travelling the world, or planning to do so, are distorting the stats by constantly Googling "Lonely Planet". Could we persuade them to use the Rough Guide instead?

Kiith

looks like everyone is thinking the same things

http://www.google.com/trends?q=food%2C+drink%2C+sex&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all

monkeyfudge

zaph wrote:

I reckon all the amount of Irish people travelling the world, or planning to do so, are distorting the stats by constantly Googling "Lonely Planet". Could we persuade them to use the Rough Guide instead?

But we're also the roughest city!

iguana

At least we're not full of sh*t! What are those Aussies eating?

1. Perth Australia
2. Brisbane Australia
3. Melbourne Australia
4. Sydney Australia
5. Birmingham United Kingdom
6. Manchester United Kingdom
7. Brentford United Kingdom
8. Philadelphia United States
9. Chicago United States
10. Los Angeles United States

Blisterman

Juding by a few random searches, it looks like most searches seem to go down around the end of each year (ie Christmas and New year), except for people searching for "porn", which spikes around then.

SexyD4Lady

Read "The Lovesong of J Alfred Prufrock" by TS Eliot, and you'll all understand.

jimmycrackcorm

Allthose lonely people have broadband though ...
http://www.google.com/trends?q=broadband&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all

dSTAR

I lived in Dublin (up until I was 18), then London (4.5 years), San Francisco (1 year) and Melbourne (5+ years) and would have to say that London wins hands down in the lonely stakes.

I am not sure why Melbourne came in second as I reckon Melburnians are very hospitable and easy to get along with even though Dubliners would like to think they are. Although there is a suspicion of 'foreigners' starting to creep in even though 1 in 4 people were born outside Australia.

I'm not sure how I would fare if I wasn't married with two kids because I work from home and my days of going out on the town are pretty limited. But then again if you didn't drink days in Dublin would be pretty grim too. :rolleyes:

I will never forget my stint in London. It was the most depressing experience ever even though I shared a room with a singer called Seal (before he became famous) and we wen't out lots and partied hard. I found it gloomy and the people very wary and unfriendly.

San Francisco was very up and down like the goddam hills! I had the best of times and the worst of times there. My brother (who was a well known DJ there) was living a few blocks up so I got out a fair bit. But I can see how it would be considered a lonely place. The thing that freaked me was the amount of homeless people. That made me feel sad and lonely every day because it is so in your face.

SexyD4Lady

SexyD4Lady wrote:

Read "The Lovesong of J Alfred Prufrock" by TS Eliot, and you'll all understand.

TS Eliot was always a depressing wanker!Would it have killed him to write one happy poem?