Sarah Stein Lubrano at The Ideas Letter: Governments, social scientists, public health officials, and others have grown concerned about a possible “loneliness epidemic. ” They paint a picture that looks a bit like this: old people staring wistfully out the window, young men growing radicalized online, teenagers glued to their phones, missing real-life connections. It’s a worrying portrait.
It’s a worrying portrait. But what we’re facing isn’t a loneliness epidemic. It’s something much worse.
It’s something much worse. Regardless of societal handwringing about the spread of loneliness, people today do not in fact report feeling any lonelier than previous generations. As one researcher put it, “despite the popularity of the claim, there is surprisingly no empirical support for the fact that loneliness is increasing.