Loneliness , Science and Psychology
Loneliness and its effects., Let us discuss, debate, and deal with it....
🎶"All the lonely people where do they all come from? All the lonely people, where do they all belong?"- The Beatles sang this question 50 years ago. Carl Jung (founded analytical psychology) said “Loneliness does not come from having no people about one, but from being unable to communicate the things that seem important to oneself, or from holding certain views which others find inadmissible.”
A killer walks among us and 99% of Americans refuse to see it. According to medical science that killer is loneliness. BEFORE the covid pandemic 3 in 5 Americans reported feelings of loneliness (Cigna, 2020). Hardest hit are aging populations and college students on campuses. But for those of us not affected this killer is invisible. So what good would it do to wake up to the forgotten people trapped in loneliness? How does a country that cannot solve homelessness tackle loneliness? And what does loneliness cost us all?
I respect The Cost of Loneliness Project and their website. But their attempt to claim that loneliness costs the United States $960 billion a year I don't see very well supported. They basically link all depression, suicide and addictions as loneliness to get that number. And they claim that loneliness has the same effect on our health as a person smoking 15 cigarettes a day. Yet, a year ago I had read that doctors were listing obesity as the number one contribution to deaths. Smoking the third cause. The second? Loneliness. So where is the outrage? Is loneliness killing more people than the Corona virus did? Did lockdown deaths by loneliness eclipse the real Covid death toll? And if it did would anyone care?
This writers opinion is that, unless the lonely can be harnessed for votes, they will continue to hide and be ignored. Why give them hope that their needs will be met when The Great And Powerful Internet open door to all hearts and minds has itself raised up this generation of loneliness? Ad campaigns boast that "The internet doesn't have to hide any more" while the lonely seeking human contact stay invisible within it.
The best solutions to free the lonely from early death and broken minds? On his blog Professor Steve Galloway suggested "impulse texts" as felt the need for to friends, family and those susceptible to loneliness. To open the door to conversations and care. Loneliness researchers suggest third party rescue by phone banks trained for empathy and listening making 2-4 calls per a week to those in need. As I read this I scream in my head "Why not all of us, humanity fully staffed and in their own families and tribes, caring for and communicating with those that we know?" Almost all Americans have phones to call, text, email or Facebook, Disqus, ect.
How do we solve this epidemic of loneliness? How do we communicate well with others? Really get to know and understand them?
Has nothing changed since Britney Spears pleaded in 1996?-
My loneliness is killing me
I must confess I still believe
When I'm not with you I lose my mind
Give me a sign
Hit me baby one more time
Not for Britney's Kids....
22% of Millennials say they don’t have a single friend.
Only 25% of teens say that they spend time with friends in person every day (a pre-pandemic number.)
Roughly the same number, 23%, say they spend time with their friends on social media every day.
30% of Millennials say they always or often feel lonely. Compared to only 20% of Gen-X and 15% of baby boomers.
And worse than this? The alarm bells are being rung and no one is alarmed enough to do something about it.
Let's Discuss......
