America has a new epidemic. It can’t be treated using traditional therapies even though it has debilitating and even deadly consequences.
The problem seeping in at the corners of our communities is loneliness and U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy is hoping to generate awareness and offer remedies before it claims more lives.
“Most of us probably think of loneliness as just a bad feeling,” he told USA TODAY. “It turns out that loneliness has far greater implications for our health when we struggle with a sense of social disconnection, being lonely or isolated.”
Loneliness is detrimental to mental and physical health, experts say, leading to an increased risk of heart disease, dementia, stroke and premature death. As researchers track record levels of self-reported loneliness, public health leaders are banding together to develop a public health framework to address the epidemic.
Alienation through the capitalization of the cognition. This coupled to the myth that the individual is responsible paved a way to isolation and loneliness.
It costs too much to be out and be social. There is no place for people to congregate that doesn’t require you to spend money. Even churches have $ expectations. In most places the local public library is the last free third space. I know everyone seems to love remote work, but for me remote work forced the place of my biggest stress to be in my house and I hate it. I’ve been mostly remote for the last 13 years and I’ve realized that I need an onsite work place so I can maintain my home as my place of relaxation and escape.
Not just the cost, but the fact that so many people are working 50+ hours a week just to survive and simply don’t have the time or energy. When you’ve gotta pick up a second job on the weekend to make rent, you’re probably not going to have any energy to go out.
There is no place for people to congregate that doesn’t require you to spend money.
I just go to friends’ homes, or they come to mine. I’m quite happy to entertain rather than go out, it’s more convenient and costs much less.
I know it’s tough when you can’t separate work and home. I don’t know what your setup is, but I only use the work laptop and not the monitor and dock they sent so I don’t have to give permanent space to work stuff. When work is done the laptop closes and gets put in the work backpack next to my desk.
Likewise, I commute to my home work by going on a 15 minute walk around the neighborhood before and after so I get some time separation. Giving myself time after work especially to mentally come home was important.
Best of luck figuring out the right balance!
For me I just maintain a dedicated work area, but thankfully my brain is able to switch from “clocked in” to “clocked out” mode easily enough.
I …
ha ha it me fr fr
The first step to resolving any problem is first recognizing there is one. The problem is I recognized it over half a decade ago in myself. As someone that suffers from the kind of loneliness as described in the article, I don’t see a way out of it.
Nobody matches with me on dating apps. I live in a U.S. state that oppresses women and is extremely evangelical while I’m staunchly not religious, reversal of Roe v. Wade made dating even more difficult than it already was. It’s depressing to keep increasing the age slider on dating apps as I age out my life.
And nobody cares to help. Regressives are banning books and are probably not far away from banning libraries. Education is a shit show and isn’t nearly as good as it was 11 years ago when I graduated school.
My mental health long since went out the window over 5 years ago while in search of companionship. It bit me so hard that I lost friends during through a legal event and it permanently marred my perspective of other people. It affected me irreversibly and I had to go to court and fight while I had very little will to continue. I won in the end but here I am still lonely as ever.
Can’t trust any psychologist as they try to take money from my insurance while providing unprofessional and unhelpful services like astro-projection YouTube videos and tell me to put my finger on my forehead, and when I tell them this is ridiculous they force my hand to sign under duress or else they’ll hospitalize me and take me away from my job which is very important to me and an outlet for me. They don’t listen to me that what they were doing is actively making things worse. I ended up calling my insurance and telling them what happened at 4am on their 24/7 crisis number. My insurance helped me out in that case but fuck me for trying to get help for it.
I rely on some close online friends for my social activities. But as the article says social media doesn’t actually cure loneliness. I live alone. I no longer cook. I stopped doing dishes. I don’t use my living room really, I have a TV and Couch and all that but they collect more dust than they get used. I have shelves in a box from Target that I never put together because I have been busy sleeping then working then playing games to keep my mental health up. I have insomnia too and take sleep aid that doesn’t always help the insomnia. I can literally lie in my bed for hours without falling asleep.
Then there’s all of the negativity going on in the world like Ukraine-Russia, Israel-Palestine, the Regressives in America which I touched on. Climate change is pretty bad now. Representatives in government don’t care what I have to say and don’t vote how I want them to.
I have sensitivities to cats and dogs and other pets. I can’t own a pet. I tried to during the deepest rut of the loneliness 5 years back but after one week with sneezing itchiness and watery eyes I couldn’t and gave up the pet. It sucks. And of course more than 50% of the women locally here are dog mom’s and you have to love dogs which I definitely don’t. Cats are better than dogs but I’m still allergic. It just would never work without repeated allergy shots or something.
I don’t spend time at bars. I don’t like alcohol unless I’m drinking socially with others and even then it’s typically undesirable. I have other vices but they’re a band-aid and not a cure, and in fact make my health worse. I can’t even improve it because to do so, like edibles instead of smoking, is a felony with jail time here.
Moving away from my home is also personally undesirable but that’s the best cure as I see it. The problem with that is I’m already very established where I live now and it’d be difficult to learn to live somewhere else. Most of my family would be even farther away if I moved to another state that actually cares about health.
Anyway, good article, I’m glad the U.S. surgeon general is taking a stance on loneliness. I hope that the U.S. makes it easier to get the help and the right kind of help. I’ve definitely not been able to.
It’s the Capitalism
I wish I could have some time alone. I never have any time to myself.
The problem is that so many social interactions are forced and empty. We have to perform so many perfunctory social interactions that many people just don’t have the energy (even with extroverts to an extent) for more meaningful interactions.
When did we become so fucking soft? Palestinians and Ukrainians are having their homes bombed and we’re claiming an “epidemic” of loneliness???
Loneliness is detrimental to mental and physical health, experts say, leading to an increased risk of heart disease, dementia, stroke and premature death.
That’s a stretch…
Isolation causes incredible psychological harm. That others are suffering does not eliminate problems at home. Other countries starving does not negate some countries having obesity problems. It’s not a contest. It’s a question of addressing problems.
That’s a stretch…
It’s not exactly news that mental health can have extremely detrimental effects on physical health?
Yeah, I get it. Hard people make good times, good times make soft people, soft people make hard times…I’m there a little.
But…I I also very much agree that poor mental health leads to lots of physical issues. I live In a first world country, survived a war, and have gone from dont be soft to understanding people’s issues aren’t made up.
You might ask someone who struggles if you want to really understand.
That’s why I’m glad I have friends I talk to every day, even if just online, and online communities I participate in, like through Lemmy or through Discord. It does help to stay connected to others.
You do get quality experiences from that? I feel most online communication platforms nowadays are basically “post and don’t look back” or “comment once and bye”. Before we had more dominantly forums where topics were discussed over a long period and even between the same people, and you’d easily recognize and connect with people. Lemmy (and reddit) also falls in the first category: you hardly make any connections and topics get abandoned after they disappeared from the front page.
I’ve had some in-depth conversations through Lemmy and Discord, and even group voice chat gaming with friends through Discord. I can get meaningful communication experiences through these platforms IMO, yeah.
Everyone should be assigned a new middle name based on a random object and number. Then everyone with the same middle name should be considered cousins. I’ll be Dr. Wilbur Daffodil-11, for example. All the Daffodil-11s will be an extended family – I’ll have family everywhere I go. Drop a pin on a map and you’ll find family members to meet or catch up with! Lonesome no more!
I don’t even want to keep up with my real cousins.
Ah, the loneliness of the apple fallen too far from the tree is perhaps the greatest loneliness of all. A family unmoored from the millstone of genetics might just be the solution you need! Don’t let your blood ties get you down, my friend. Recording and producing legend Quincy Jones? COUSIN (and you call him “Q”!). Secretary of a society for the preservation of local birds, Maggie Mumphries (who I just made up)? PRIMOS. Renowned author and pediatrician Mark Vonnegut? Cut off your sleeves and crack open a Corona like Dom Turetto cuz you’re FAMILY.
#LonesomeNoMore2024
American corporations: “how can we monetize this”.
Friend as a service (FaaS)
Selling bf
Not only in America, unfortunately.
You guys wanna start a fight club?
Who writes this crap? They should be kicked off the planet.
