The modern world has a problem. Few people identify with their workplace, we feel disconnected from our politicians, and the only time you see somebody beyond your immediate family is often at the weekends, and only for a few hours. We feel lonely. We feel adrift. We feel what Émile Durkheim called "anomie." Anomie is the sense that you do not belong. It is when you are around other people, but you feel no actual connection to them.
The modern world suffers from this in two ways. The first is that we are still forced to be around other people. We go to the shops, we go to the airport, and we have to go to meetings at work. But none of these build a relationship. It is like living alongside somebody without being connected to them. The second is that a lot of our interactions happen over the internet, or are squeezed into a few hours each week. This is not lasting, deep, or meaningful enough to establish a sense of belonging.
For Durkheim, we need to bring back something called the "mechanically integrated group." This is when a group comes together for some shared purpose or objective, and there is a sense of solidarity. It is when people become friends, and when connection becomes something like comradeship.
Durkheim warns that if we don't take our hobbies, our clubs, our societies, or our groups seriously, then we will be forever lost in anomie. We will feel sad and unmoored. If we want to feel better about ourselves, we need to spend more time around other people, and we need to work towards a purpose that goes beyond just who we are.