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posted by Fnord666 on Monday September 10 2018, @02:14PM   Printer-friendly
from the who-you-calling-a-cat-lady? dept.

Loneliness is a serious public-health problem:

Doctors and policymakers in the rich world are increasingly worried about loneliness. Campaigns to reduce it have been launched in Britain, Denmark and Australia. In Japan the government has surveyed hikikomori, or "people who shut themselves in their homes". Last year Vivek Murthy, a former surgeon-general of the United States, called loneliness an epidemic, likening its impact on health to obesity or smoking 15 cigarettes per day. In January Theresa May, the British prime minister, appointed a minister for loneliness.

That the problem exists is obvious; its nature and extent are not. Obesity can be measured on scales. But how to weigh an emotion? Researchers start by distinguishing several related conditions. Loneliness is not synonymous with social isolation (how often a person meets or speaks to friends and family) or with solitude (which implies a choice to be alone).

Instead researchers define loneliness as perceived social isolation, a feeling of not having the social contacts one would like. Of course, the objectively isolated are much more likely than the average person to feel lonely. But loneliness can also strike those with seemingly ample friends and family. Nor is loneliness always a bad thing. John Cacioppo, an American psychologist who died in March, called it a reflex honed by natural selection. Early humans would have been at a disadvantage if isolated from a group, he noted, so it makes sense for loneliness to stir a desire for company. Transient loneliness still serves that purpose today. The problem comes when it is prolonged.

[...] A study published in 2010 using this scale estimated that 35% of Americans over 45 were lonely. Of these 45% had felt this way for at least six years; a further 32% for one to five years. In 2013 Britain's Office for National Statistics (ONS), by dint of asking a simple question, classed 25% of people aged 52 or over as "sometimes lonely" with an extra 9% "often lonely".

Other evidence points to the extent of isolation. For 41% of Britons over 65, TV or a pet is their main source of company, according to Age UK, a charity. In Japan more than half a million people stay at home for at least six months at a time, making no contact with the outside world, according to a report by the government in 2016. Another government study reckons that 15% of Japanese regularly eat alone. A popular TV show is called "The Solitary Gourmet".

[...] The idea that loneliness is bad for your health is not new. One early job of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in the Yukon region was to keep tabs on the well-being of gold prospectors who might go months without human contact. Evidence points to the benign power of a social life. Suicides fall during football World Cups, for example, maybe because of the transient feeling of community.

But only recently has medicine studied the links between relationships and health. In 2015 a meta-analysis led by Julianne Holt-Lunstad of Brigham Young University, in Utah, synthesised 70 papers, through which 3.4m participants were followed over an average of seven years. She found that those classed as lonely had a 26% higher risk of dying, and those living alone a 32% higher chance, after accounting for differences in age and health status.


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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by ikanreed on Monday September 10 2018, @02:19PM (22 children)

    by ikanreed (3164) Subscriber Badge on Monday September 10 2018, @02:19PM (#732757) Journal

    Who here seriously does not prefer being around their pet to most people?

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  • (Score: 3, Touché) by Kilo110 on Monday September 10 2018, @02:46PM (17 children)

    by Kilo110 (2853) Subscriber Badge on Monday September 10 2018, @02:46PM (#732768)

    Put me in that camp. An animal is a poor substitute for real human contact and it's a sad state with people have become so disagreeable that it becomes socially acceptable.

    • (Score: 2, Insightful) by ikanreed on Monday September 10 2018, @03:31PM (16 children)

      by ikanreed (3164) Subscriber Badge on Monday September 10 2018, @03:31PM (#732778) Journal

      I mean, I can appreciate that, but it also makes it clear you're 100% not "one of the good ones" who I'd actually enjoy being around.

      • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday September 10 2018, @04:13PM (9 children)

        by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Monday September 10 2018, @04:13PM (#732792) Journal

        What is sad is that some people are so isolated that an animal is the best support they have.

        Animals are not judgemental.

        --
        People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
        • (Score: 3, Touché) by ikanreed on Monday September 10 2018, @04:49PM (7 children)

          by ikanreed (3164) Subscriber Badge on Monday September 10 2018, @04:49PM (#732812) Journal

          That's only one of the many many many positive qualities of my adorable puppy.

          Always playful, affectionate, friendly, oh so fuzzy, enthusiastic about anything, takes practical jokes well, appreciative of everything I give them, does what I ask, and not ugly hairless weird biped with flat faces.

          Not a great conversationalist, though

          • (Score: 2) by Aiwendil on Monday September 10 2018, @05:47PM

            by Aiwendil (531) on Monday September 10 2018, @05:47PM (#732840) Journal

            and not ugly hairless weird biped with flat faces.

            Well, not far off on that one [google.com] ;)

          • (Score: 3, Funny) by DannyB on Monday September 10 2018, @05:54PM (5 children)

            by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Monday September 10 2018, @05:54PM (#732842) Journal

            Always playful, affectionate, friendly, oh so fuzzy, enthusiastic about anything

            Dogs lick to express their love and infection towards their owners.

            --
            People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
            • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 10 2018, @06:02PM (3 children)

              by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 10 2018, @06:02PM (#732850)

              Dogs lick to express their love and infection towards their owners.

              ...and their balls. Mostly their balls!

              • (Score: 3, Touché) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday September 10 2018, @08:10PM (2 children)

                by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Monday September 10 2018, @08:10PM (#732888) Homepage Journal

                Do you blame them?

                --
                My rights don't end where your fear begins.
                • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 10 2018, @08:19PM

                  by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 10 2018, @08:19PM (#732896)

                  For affection or infection?

                • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 10 2018, @11:46PM

                  by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 10 2018, @11:46PM (#732974)

                  On the contrary, I'm glad they're not licking mine.

            • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 10 2018, @08:23PM

              by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 10 2018, @08:23PM (#732902)

              Dogs lick to express their love and infection towards their owners.

              Dogs also lick their balls & buttholes. Might as well shove your face up a dog's ass.

        • (Score: 2) by Hyper on Tuesday September 11 2018, @10:34AM

          by Hyper (1525) on Tuesday September 11 2018, @10:34AM (#733097) Journal

          Never been owned by a cat?

      • (Score: 2) by Kilo110 on Monday September 10 2018, @11:39PM (5 children)

        by Kilo110 (2853) Subscriber Badge on Monday September 10 2018, @11:39PM (#732973)

        I wasn't calling you disagreeable btw. It was a statement directed at society in general.

        • (Score: 3, Insightful) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday September 11 2018, @12:16AM (4 children)

          by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Tuesday September 11 2018, @12:16AM (#732985) Homepage Journal

          Nothing wrong with being disagreeable. It's a useful character trait if you don't let it get out of hand.

          --
          My rights don't end where your fear begins.
          • (Score: 3, Funny) by Kilo110 on Tuesday September 11 2018, @01:15AM

            by Kilo110 (2853) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday September 11 2018, @01:15AM (#732998)

            I'd agree with that. But I didn't want him to think I was casually insulting him for no reason.

          • (Score: 2) by Reziac on Tuesday September 11 2018, @02:15PM (2 children)

            by Reziac (2489) on Tuesday September 11 2018, @02:15PM (#733152) Homepage

            When I took one of those Big 5 tests, I came out 98% disagreeable. So your statement is about the only thing I agree with. :D

            --
            And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
            • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday September 11 2018, @04:34PM (1 child)

              by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Tuesday September 11 2018, @04:34PM (#733192) Homepage Journal

              I probably would too. I default to trying to tear up any idea or plan I consider. It's a very good way to approach things if you write code or don't want to look like an idiot.

              --
              My rights don't end where your fear begins.
              • (Score: 2) by Reziac on Tuesday September 11 2018, @06:31PM

                by Reziac (2489) on Tuesday September 11 2018, @06:31PM (#733238) Homepage

                Yeah, or as I say about my shopping habits -- I have buyer's remorse BEFORE the sale.

                --
                And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
  • (Score: 0, Troll) by suburbanitemediocrity on Monday September 10 2018, @05:01PM

    by suburbanitemediocrity (6844) on Monday September 10 2018, @05:01PM (#732815)
  • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday September 10 2018, @05:38PM (2 children)

    by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Monday September 10 2018, @05:38PM (#732835) Homepage Journal

    I don't have a pet. I outsourced that aspect of life. My neighbor has 18 cats, so I just pet one of them when I feel like it.

    Oddly, she's not a Cat Lady. She's extremely social and socially active and has a live-in boy toy about my age. She just doesn't have it in her to not give a cat who needs one a home.

    --
    My rights don't end where your fear begins.
    • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 11 2018, @12:31AM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 11 2018, @12:31AM (#732991)

      > ... She just doesn't have it in her to not give a cat who needs one a home.

      That is the definition of a cat lady. I know a few that fit your description including husbands and an active social life.