FIVE MYTHS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT LONELINESS

Months of stay-at-home orders are taking their toll, but even before the pandemic, loneliness was a defining condition of the 21st century: Britain even appointed a minister for loneliness three years ago. What's going on? Here are five common myths.

1

SENIORS ARE LONELIEST

It's actually the young whom study after study reveals as the loneliest. In a 2019 YouGov survey, roughly 1 in 5 millennials reported having no friends, significantly higher than the proportion of Generation Xers or Baby Boomers.

2

LONELINESS IS MAINLY A MENTAL HEALTH PROBLEM

The lonely or socially isolated, according to a review of 23 studies, have a 29 per cent higher risk of heart disease and a 32 per cent higher chance of stroke. A study of seniors in Amsterdam showed the lonely had a 64 per cent greater risk of clinical dementia. Statistically, loneliness is as damaging to health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day.

3

OPEN-PLAN OFFICES DEEPEN RELATIONS

Studies have shown that if people in open-plan offices spoke to one another, they did so for shorter periods, more superficially and often censored themselves, and preferred email and messaging.

4

CITY DWELLERS ARE LESS LONELY THAN RURAL

Making the case that rural areas are more alienating than cities, a New York magazine writer leaned on a striking correlation: “States with the worst suicide rates are the least dense.” (Wyoming, Montana, New Mexico and Alaska have the highest rates.) But the General Social Survey of American adults found little if any difference among urban, suburban and rural residents.

5

LONELINESS IS A WESTERN PHENOMENON

The more individualistic a society is, the more lonely its citizens tend to be. But surveys show 28 per cent of Chinese over 65 feel lonely. In India, 48 per cent were lonely; that's even higher in cities. In Japan, the proportion of crimes committed by people over age 60 has quadrupled in two decades — observers believe some

elderly commit minor offences to end up in jail because they have no family or

friends to support them.