How the Rising Popularity of Hugging Is Diminishing Its True Purpose and Meaning

In the latest of their incredibly insightful videos, the School of Life explains and defends the importance of hugging, the vulnerability one admits to when needing a hug and how its common everyday use is diminishing its true meaning.

It seems very strange to make a case for hugging after all, hugging has become deeply fashionable. It’s viewed as an expansive alternative to the handshake, intended to suggest a flatteringly warm-blooded informality. Like a peck on both cheeks, a hug is now something you can do at the office or with someone you’re only meeting for the second time. In other words it’s grown into a sentimental token of chumminess, that means more or less nothing. Which is a pity because in its essence, hugging is of deep and poignant significance.

Lori Dorn
Lori Dorn

Lori is a Laughing Squid Contributing Editor based in New York City who has been writing blog posts for over a decade. She also enjoys making jewelry, playing guitar, taking photos and mixing craft cocktails.