Loneliness: A corrosive national epidemic
“Americans are more lonely and socially disconnected than ever”—and their isolation poses “a serious threat to their physical and mental health.” That was the urgent warning last week in a new report from U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, said Dylan Scott in Vox. Murthy’s report found that half of U.S. adults report experiencing loneliness, while only 39 percent feel “very connected” to others. Americans spend a growing amount of time alone and have fewer social connections— half say they have three or fewer close friends, and just 16 percent say they feel very attached to their local community. Among 15- to 24-year-olds, the time spent with friends dropped nearly 70 percent from 2003 to 2020. The effects of this social isolation are profound. It’s correlated not just with depression and anxiety, but also with increased risk of heart disease, stroke, and dementia.
Murthy is absolutely right: “Loneliness is a plague in America,” said Timothy P. Carney in The Washington Examiner. A growing number of Americans live alone, while fewer of us go to church, bowl in leagues, or know our neighbors. We “replace human interaction with poor digital simulacra,” while subscribing to a misguided American ethos that prizes individualism and personal “grit” over community and caring. “The resulting loneliness” lies behind many of our “cultural pathologies,” including rising rates of suicide and drug abuse, and feeds our “political rancor.” Meanwhile, “political vitriol” drives us further apart, said Shmuly Yanklowitz in The Arizona Republic. As a rabbi, I can see how growing intolerance for different views is destroying friendships and dividing families. “No wonder we’re so lonely.”
Healing our national wound “will require collective effort,” said Lisa Jarvis in Bloomberg. Murthy’s report prescribes steps including investing in public spaces such as parks and libraries, promoting “policies that encourage connectivity” such as paid family leave, and putting more emphasis on and money into community and school programs that build social ties. Taking small steps in our personal lives “can make a big difference,” said Vivek H. Murthy in The New York Times. That could mean spending 15 minutes calling a friend, introducing yourself to a neighbor, or volunteering in your community. Repairing our frayed social connections is a generational challenge, but we must take it up. Like food and water, human connection is “essential for our survival,” both as individuals and as a nation.