Americans spend more time alone than ever—but that doesn’t mean we’re lonely

Americans spend more time alone(əˈlōn) than ever—but that doesn’t mean we’re lonely(ˈlōnlē)

But social media might not be a long-term solution.

By Sara Konrath

Are Americans becoming lonelier?

On May 1, NPR reported on a survey about loneliness(ˈlōnlēnis) conducted by Cigna, a large health insurance(inˈSHo͝orəns) company. Cigna asked over 20,000 American adults if they agreed with statements like “People are around me but not with me” and “No one really knows me well.” The survey found that younger Americans were lonelier than older Americans.

But while doing research for my upcoming book on empathy(ˈempəTHē) and social relationships, I found that the story is a bit more complicated(ˈkämpləˌkātid) than this.

How to study loneliness

The Cigna study is far too limited to tell us why young people appear to be lonelier. Is it because younger people are in a normal lonelier life stage before finding a partner and having children? Or is it because there have been generational increases in loneliness? The only way scientists could know if there have been generational changes would be to compare young people today to young people in earlier times.

The Cigna survey used the UCLA Loneliness Scale(skāl), one of the best available measures(ˈmeZHər) of loneliness. But just because a survey has 20,000 respondents(riˈspändənt) doesn’t mean it’s high quality. Who were the respondents? Did they reflect the general U.S. population in terms of age, gender and other factors? Without more details about the survey methods, it’s hard to know how to interpret(inˈtərprit) it.

Thankfully, some peer-reviewed studies have examined(igˈzamən) changes over time in loneliness and social isolation(ˌīsəˈlāSHən). Loneliness is the subjective(səbˈjektiv) feeling of social disconnection. Social isolation is more objective. It includes living alone, having very few social ties, not having people to confide(kənˈfīd) in, and not spending time with others very often.

Although lonely people are sometimes more socially isolated, this is not always the case. It’s possible to feel lonely, even when surrounded by people. And it’s possible to have a few friends, enjoying deep connections with them along with times of solitude(ˈsäləˌt(y)o͞od).

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https://www.popsci.com/americans-lonely-social-isolation