How isolated do young people feel?...

Actor ARDESHIR AFSHARI, 22: “When there’s a lot of people around you, at uni or at work, but you still feel like you can’t communicate, or you’re not very well connected to them – that’s when you really feel lonely. More so than when there’s no-one around.”

Student CALLUM OLIVER, 18: “You feel lonely at uni if you don’t know the people in your halls very well. Seeing your friends more helps – it’s obvious.”

Student RESHAN RODNEY, 21: “Obviously loneliness is something you experience at uni. Especially because you’re doing a lot of work, so you don’t spend as much time with people as you think you’re going to before you come.”

Twenty-one-year-old PETER CORRIETTE says: “As a young person, sometimes it’s hard to differentiate emotions. For example, differentiating loneliness from a sense of being overwhelmed with schoolwork. “

ABDUL, a 26-year-old international student from Pakistan, said: . “The weather makes you lonely! Because if it’s raining, you have to stay inside. If you want to go outside you have to cover up. Coming to a new country where they have a different culture, different background, it does take time to fit in, to meet new people.”

AILSA PATON, who is a student, said: “There’s not an awful lot to do in Manchester that doesn’t cost a bomb. It’s really expensive so nobody wants to leave their house, which doesn’t help with being lonely.”

Twenty-two-year-old DANIELLA said: “I feel lonely because I work shifts. Four days I’m off, four days I’m in work. From Monday to Thursday I am alone at home. It’s not good.”

SAM ROWE, 24, said: “Sometimes I do still feel lonely but that’s more personal than anything else.”