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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: 2) by DannyB on Monday September 10 2018, @04:00PM (6 children)

    by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Monday September 10 2018, @04:00PM (#732786) Journal

    Even if you're looking at cars pass on a busy street, a porch swing can be a very quiet place to think. It's not the sound. It's the lack of attention requests directed at you.

    Look at me! Look what I did! Hey, can you help me with my Windows PC? I was told I need to power cycle and that sounds very complicated!

    And devices: Buzzzzzz. Ding Dong! Ring, ring, ring. Beep. Ding. Tweedle-beep.

    --
    People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
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  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by suburbanitemediocrity on Monday September 10 2018, @05:18PM (2 children)

    by suburbanitemediocrity (6844) on Monday September 10 2018, @05:18PM (#732821)

    And people said I was crazy to move to the middle of nowhere with no money.

    A decade later I'm more than financially secure (but not big) and have many friends. I realized a few weeks ago that my friends have keys to my house, but I don't.

    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by crafoo on Monday September 10 2018, @09:24PM (1 child)

      by crafoo (6639) on Monday September 10 2018, @09:24PM (#732920)

      Out of curiosity, how did you make friends? Hang out in the nearest town at the diner or something?

      • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 11 2018, @03:00AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 11 2018, @03:00AM (#733034)

        Feed store, more likely.

  • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday September 10 2018, @05:34PM (2 children)

    by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Monday September 10 2018, @05:34PM (#732833) Homepage Journal

    Agreed, as long as you leave your phone inside on the charger. A seasonally appropriate beverage adds to the effectiveness as well.

    --
    My rights don't end where your fear begins.
    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by DannyB on Monday September 10 2018, @06:38PM (1 child)

      by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Monday September 10 2018, @06:38PM (#732865) Journal

      I find that I can take my phone out to the porch swing just fine.

      Don't have any social media accounts.

      Don't have your phone pester you from people who frequently generate alerts over trivial things.

      Don't have your phone alert from news apps. There probably isn't really any actual news that needs your immediate attention. Now if there were a nuclear launch, I would want to know about it. But news apps can't seem to distinguish the importance of that from BREAKING NEWS !!! Such-and-so famous person is romantically interested in So-and-such other person.

      The alert system on your phone is supposed to be to manage your attention about important things. Not take over your life. People you trust, and allow direct messages from, probably won't bother you with trivial things.

      --
      People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
      • (Score: 4, Funny) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday September 10 2018, @08:16PM

        by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Monday September 10 2018, @08:16PM (#732891) Homepage Journal

        My phone never alerts on anything except phone calls and text messages. Unfortunately I have a rather large family, a pretty decent social circle, and cmn32480 has my number for emergencies (or when he just read that I was going to have a nap).

        --
        My rights don't end where your fear begins.