If you type the term “lonely” into TikTok, you’ll see an endless video feed of people babbling into the camera about how lonely they feel all the time.
Loneliness is a genuine, terrible, and growing problem.
Being alone is being cut off from other people, and more and more people are struggling to make and keep such connections. It’s fundamentally a separation from your inner self.
Here are five key points regarding loneliness.
1. Loneliness can affect anyone.
Because loneliness can affect everyone, we need to alter our conception of who is affected. In fact, according to statistics, it applies to everyone in the U.S., including youngsters, the elderly, single adults, married people, and people of all ages. The regularity of this cannot be overstated.
2. Despite their apparent similarity, loneliness and solitude are different.
While solitude and loneliness are comparable, they do not share the same negative impacts. Finding quiet reflection time has a good impact on variables like mood and blood pressure. On the other hand, loneliness is a feeling of isolation that frequently lasts even when other people are around.
3. Being lonely goes beyond just feeling miserable.
On both emotional and physical health, chronic loneliness can have a significant negative effect. According to studies by Holt-Lunstad at Brigham Young University, being socially isolated has the same negative effects on one’s health as smoking up to 15 cigarettes per day or consuming more than six alcoholic beverages per day. Additionally, it makes pre-existing mental health issues worse.
In contrast, blue zones are regions of the world where people live unusually long lives and experience well-being that is far higher than the average. Lifetime friendships and a sense of community play a part in these favourable outcomes.
Find your tribe.
4. More face time, less screen time.
The majority of Americans are lonely. Additionally, Americans gaze at screens for an average of seven hours and four minutes per day.
Online connections cannot replace the real human connection we want. We must be careful to retain our in-person face time even though it is wonderful to keep in touch with old pals via social media or even video chat with family. A real-life connection can provide us with long-lasting fulfillment in a way that a smartphone cannot.
5. Locate the third position.
Your third location is where you may socialize, express your ideas and aspirations, and have fun. Your home is your first place, your workplace is your second place, and today that so many people work from home, and many people don’t even have a second or third location.
Genuine connections thrive in your third spot, which is also a great place to share goals and dreams and have fun. Frequently, it takes place in a place where many people can congregate casually. Churches and religious communities, as well as French cafés and bars, are examples highlighted in the book The Great Good Place.
The answer to loneliness might seem straightforward. After all, all we need to do is spend more time interacting with other people.
But it will need each of us to make a deliberate, ongoing effort to check in with the people we love, establish new friends, and strike a balance between our online and offline time.
