‘Social media made me feel lonelier’

Daisy Buchanan, 33

When someone says “loneliness”, the first phrase my brain alights on is “Sunday afternoons”. There I am, in bed, surrounded by magazines and cereal bowls, clicking and scrolling. During my mid-20s, when I was using social media heavily, I went through the loneliest period of my life.

At the time, I had a job I adored, an on-off boyfriend and a busy social life. I was lucky – which made it hard to admit how keenly the loneliness could sting.

Social media has always felt like a world of “We” that I am not invited to. I used it to find comfort and connection, but I’d leave feeling separate from the rest of the world. Everyone else seemed to live a life filled with proposals and promotions – I had nothing special to share.

After one especially lonely self-loathing Sunday, it occurred to me that I had to learn to like spending time with myself. It’s important to reframe the way we feel about being by ourselves. After all, if we’re OK with being alone, it means we’re OK with who we are.