Gen Z’s ‘Solomaxxing’: How Neoliberal Individualism Reframes Loneliness as Empowerment
Original framing: “Gen Z Singles Are Trying to Make ‘Solomaxxing’ Aspirational” — Wired
Psychological research links prolonged solitude to increased cortisol levels and reduced oxytocin, contradicting the ‘solomaxxing’ narrative of empowerment. Studies on social media use show that platforms like Tinder exacerbate loneliness by replacing deep bonds with transactional interactions. Neuroscience confirms that humans are wired for cooperative survival, making enforced solitude maladaptive on a biological level.
The ‘solomaxxing’ trend is a symptom of late capitalism’s atomization, where structural failures—housing crises, gig economy precarity, and the decline of communal support—are repackaged as personal empowerment.
Historically, similar trends emerged during industrialization and the neoliberal turn, revealing a pattern of commodifying solitude while obscuring the systems that make partnership an economic luxury. Marginalized groups, from disabled individuals to Black women, are disproportionately excluded from this ‘aspiration,’ exposing how the narrative serves neoliberal interests by naturalizing loneliness as a lifestyle choice. Indigenous and communal models offer alternatives, but they require policy shifts to scale—such as co-housing subsidies and dating app regulation—to disrupt the cycle of extraction. The trickster’s lens (Hermes, Coyote) unmasks the absurdity: a society that sells solitude as freedom while profiting from the isolation it creates. The path forward demands reweaving social fabric, not celebrating its fraying edges.