Are You at Risk for Loneliness?
Who are the loneliest people in America? American men were said to be in a “friendship recession,” with a survey finding the number of men without any close friends increased fivefold since 1990. Meanwhile, resurfaced comments from Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. J.D. Vance complaining that the government was being run by “childless cat ladies” who are unhappy they don’t have children drew widespread condemnation from across the political spectrum. Last year, the US Surgeon General released an advisoryunderscoring the seriousness of loneliness and isolation. While long-term data on loneliness is lacking, recent surveys have found increases in loneliness that predate the pandemic.
But the answers to who loneliness afflicts — and the solutions to this complex social problem — are not nearly as straightforward as you might think.
Loneliness is more than just isolation: It’s the subjective experience of craving more social interaction than you currently have. It isn’t binary, either, and no one is immune. Loneliness exists on a continuum, says Julianne Holt-Lunstad, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Brigham Young University. Most people experience loneliness at some point in their lives and labeling people as lonely can be stigmatizing. “It can make you feel bad about yourself, and then make you even less likely to want to socialize with others [out of] fear of rejection,” Holt-Lunstad says, “but it can also then influence how you perceive the world and social situations that can lead to a negative spiral.”
Excerpted from Vox
