America Has a Loneliness Epidemic. Here Are 6 Steps to Address It

According to a new advisory from the U.S. Surgeon General titled “Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation,”  even before the COVID-19 pandemic, about half of U.S. adults reported experiencing measurable levels of loneliness.

And it warns that the physical consequences of poor connection can be devastating, including a 29% increased risk of heart disease; a 32% increased risk of stroke; and a 50% increased risk of developing dementia for older adults.

“It’s hard to put a price tag, if you will, on the amount of human suffering that people are experiencing right now,” Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy told All Things Considered.

“In the last few decades, we’ve just lived through a dramatic pace of change. We move more, we change jobs more often, we are living with technology that has profoundly changed how we interact with each other and how we talk to each other.”

Across age groups, people are spending less time with each other in person than two decades ago. The advisory reported that this was most pronounced in young people aged 15-24 who had 70% less social interaction with their friends.

Murthy said that many young people now use social media as a replacement for in-person relationships, and this often meant lower-quality connections.

“We also know that for some kids, being online has been a way to find community at a time when many of them have not been able to,” he said. “What we need to protect against, though, are the elements of technology, and social media in particular, that seek to maximize the amount of time that our children are spending online at the expense of their in-person interactions.”

The advisory outlines the framework for a new national strategy. It is based on six foundational pillars, which are:

• Strengthening social infrastructure, which includes things like parks and libraries as well as public programs.
• Enacting pro-connection public policies at every level of government, including things like accessible public transportation or paid family leave.
• Mobilizing the health sector to address the medical needs that stem from loneliness.
• Reforming digital environments to “critically evaluate our relationship with technology.”
• Deepening our knowledge through more robust research into the issue.
• Cultivating a culture of connection.

Murthy said loneliness can impact people in a variety of ways, so understanding the signs is the first step to addressing it.

Excerpted from “America Has a Loneliness Epidemic. Here Are 6 Steps to Address It” on NPR. Read the full article online.  Download the advisory.

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Source: NPR | America Has a Loneliness Epidemic. Here Are 6 Steps to Address It, https://www.npr.org/2023/05/02/1173418268/loneliness-connection-mental-health-dementia-surgeon-general | © 2023 npr

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