Loneliness in adults

Adult loneliness
Self-imposed loneliness

Nature

While feeling alone is hard enough to manage, it can also lead to serious health issues. Lonely people report higher rates of social anxiety and depression, poorer psychological health and quality of life, and fewer meaningful relationships and social interactions.

Incidence

A study reported in 2019 revealed that one in two (50.5 per cent) Australians feel lonely for at least one day a week, while more than one in four (27.6 per cent) feel lonely for three or more days. More Australians aged 56 to 65 felt lonely than other age groups. Interestingly, those aged over 65 said they were the least lonely. Loneliness was found to increase a person’s likelihood of experiencing depression by 15.2 per cent and the likelihood of social anxiety increases by 13.1 per cent. Those who are lonely also report being more anxious during social interactions. Considering other health effects of social isolation and loneliness, 50 per cent have a higher chance of premature death compared with obesity, which increases the chance of early death by 30 per cent.

Claim

Loneliness is a bigger killer than obesity and should be considered a major public health hazard.

Loneliness takes many forms. Some people are restricted by their inability to travel or go out much. Others have limited funds to do anything like going on holiday or eating out and travelling to family.

Millions of single and divorced people have no acceptable way of finding marriage partners or even friends. Meeting someone at a bar or night club implies willingness to engage in casual sex. Dating agencies seem unnatural and are often expensive. Advertisements in newspapers have the danger of meeting someone quite unacceptable. In modern society after leaving school there are few neutral places for people interested in meeting members of the opposite sex.

The masses of yesteryear consisted of a group of people physically coming together. The current masses, on the other hand, consist of individuals who, each in digital solitude, are infused by the mass media with similar representations and stories. It is this lonely mass that, together with its leaders, forms the backbone of the ultimate symptom of our rationalistic society: the totalitarian state.