WHY ARE WE LONELIER THAN EVER?

Over 9 million people in the UK admit to feeling isolated, and it’s not just the elderly. Closer speaks to five women of different ages who have all experienced loneliness

Single mum S Emily Fox, 32, recently made headlines after claiming she was the loneliest woman in Britain, admitting that she often goes to the supermarket just so she can interact with other adults.

Sadly, she’s one of many suffering in what has now become an epidemic. There are 1.2m people who are chronically lonely in the UK, and research has shown that it’s as damaging for your health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. It was for this reason that in January this year, MP Tracey Crouch was appointed the Minister for Loneliness. Although she has since resigned from the post and MP Mims Davies has taken over.

EPIDEMIC

Cal Strode, of the Mental Health Foundation, said that loneliness among young people could be driven by social media and the “digital world”. He explained, “Teens can have thousands of friends online and yet feel unsupported and isolated. Technology could be exacerbating social isolation.”

Meanwhile, more than half of British adults say that admitting to feeling alone is difficult. And shock research has revealed that the average person in the UK feels lonely for a week every month, with one in three of us describing ourselves as “socially isolated”.

TRIGGERS

Laura Alcock-ferguson, executive director of the Campaign to End Loneliness, tells Closer, “There is much to do to overcome the epidemic of loneliness. The huge stigma surrounding it is slowing down efforts to combat it and is isolating millions of older people.” But she adds that it’s not just the elderly who are affected.

She says, “There are many reasons why loneliness is such a problem now. People are often too busy to connect with others properly, many families live far apart, people are living for longer, and divorce is on the rise.

“It’s important to remember that loneliness is not about personality, nor is it a failing. It’s driven by other factors and can occur at any time, though there are often triggers, such as moving, having a baby and divorce.”