Americans Spend Unprecedented Time Alone
This is bad news: Americans are spending more time alone than ever before. Certainly, the pandemic didn’t help but why is it still happening? Loneliness is like an illness and it can truly deplete people of the life-giving need of community.
A new study in the Washington Post shows that Americans are choosing solitude. Unfortunately, this kind of behavior is a leading cause of depression and other mental health struggles.
The Campaign to End Loneliness finds that:
- Loneliness is likely to increase your risk of death by 26% (Holt-Lunstad, 2015)
- Loneliness, living alone and poor social connections are as bad for your health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. (Holt-Lunstad, 2010)
- Loneliness is worse for you than obesity. (Holt-Lunstad, 2010)
- Loneliness and social isolation are associated with an increased risk of developing coronary heart disease and stroke [1]
- Loneliness increases the risk of high blood pressure [2]
- Loneliness with severe depression is associated with early mortality [3] and loneliness is a risk factor for depression in later life [4]
- Loneliness and social isolation put individuals at greater risk of cognitive decline and dementia [5]
Some of this is related to the Internet playing an increasingly toxic role in our lives. Some of it is also related to how many people are leaving church and other faith communities. This is something very dear to my heart and really what I wrote my upcoming book about.
The more we disentangle from others, the more myopic and removed we become. It’s unhealthy and harmful for individuals and society. I hope we can turn this around.
