I fear for young who only know an online life

While technology is liberating, I fear it has also eroded our connection to others; if we don’t stop this tide of isolation, friendship will one day be cast aside for artificial intelligence

LONELINESS is everywhere, it’s allconsuming, insidious and invisible but society must be the sword to combat this social disease if we are to maintain our Irishness.

I still remember the ignorant bliss of childhood in the 1980s, when we all seemed to be functioning organs of our families, friend groups and neighbourhoods.

There was no necessity for the internet or social networks. We were our social networks, in all our real-time simplicity.

I vividly recall as a seven-year-old calling friends on my parents’ delightful red house phone. Hearing a human voice on the end of the line was an innocent pleasure that made me feel connected.

And we’d revel at shaking household items, such as boxes of cereal down the phone, for the other to guess the sound.

I remember in later years the teenage embarrassment that consumed me when boys called that same phone to discuss cinema dates and to flirt as my mum momentarily listened in, her game given away by the click of the receiver in the dining room being set down. This was long before online dating delivered the death of organic romance to this generation of lovelorn millennials.

These were all tangible relationships, nurtured through shared history and, most importantly, human interaction and not born from the confinement now bred by an unhealthy attachment to computer keyboards or smartphones.

I cling to a memory from the late 1990s when I was pregnant with my only daughter, when a group of the most gorgeous older ladies knitted pretty cardigans for the new baby.

And those same neighbours, who basked in the sunshine together on seats lined outside their doors, also ran to our aid when my daughter, a toddler by then, fell as she played with the other children.

My own all-knowing aunt in Buncrana, Co Donegal, knew every shred of news in her community and was familiar with most of those who lived in the town, whether by first name or nickname.

There was such safety guaranteed by community then that the car doors were left unlocked along with the houses.

Of course, all that has since rapidly and tragically changed.

And last month, we realised just how great the changes have been across Ireland with the Loneliness Taskforce calling for €3m in annual funding towards fighting Ireland’s loneliness epidemic.

The group, led by Seán Moynihan, the CEO of older people’s charity Alone, and Dr Keith Swanick, the Fianna Fáil health spokesman, wants doctors to ask if patients are lonely, as many would be quicker to admit they felt isolated than depressed.

The taskforce also says more Irish research needs to take place, to delve into just how much isolation is affecting our country, and that an army of volunteers needs to help end this blight of loneliness with action plans.

Doctors have long known loneliness can lead to mental health problems, like depression, stress, anxiety, and it affects confidence.

But there’s also increasing evidence that isolation is linked with physical illness too.

Psychologists at University of Chicago and Ohio State University found the socially isolated develop changes in their immune system, which leads to a condition called chronic inflammation.

Short-term inflammation helps the body heal after a cut or an infection but if the inflammation continues in the long term, it can contribute towards cardiovascular disease and cancer.

The Chicago scientists also found lonely people find everyday tasks more stressful than those who are not socially isolated.

And though we may traditionally have linked isolation only with older people, it seems this is increasingly a problem the young face as they spend vast amounts of their lives online.

The ultimate perversion is, of course, that social networks have proved only to lessen social activity for many.

A 2017 study by the University of Pittsburgh found those who spend more than two hours a day on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, are twice as likely to feel socially isolated.

AND researchers can quibble over whether it’s a case of the chicken or the egg. But as a Generation X woman, born into a world pre-internet, I believe isolation has been increased by our consumption and addiction to our online worlds.

While technology is liberating, I fear it has also eroded our connection to others and that if we don’t stop this tide of isolation, all familiarity and friendship will one day be cast aside for artificial intelligence and the assignment of our lives to apartments and houses, with the promise of our only visitor being the postal worker delivering yet another item we don’t really need.

I’m grateful I have a history built on family, friendship and community but I truly fear for the young who’ve known nothing but their online existence.