Are you lonely? Study says young Americans are

[PortCityProphet]

Americans Are A Lonely Lot, And Young People Bear The Heaviest Burden

Loneliness isn't just a fleeting feeling, leaving us sad for a few hours to a few days. Research in recent years suggests that for many people, loneliness is more like a chronic ache, affecting their daily lives and sense of well-being.

Now a nationwide survey by the health insurer Cigna underscores that. It finds that loneliness is widespread in America, with nearly 50 percent of respondents reporting that they feel alone or left out always or sometimes.

Using one of the best-known tools for measuring loneliness — the UCLA Loneliness Scale — Cigna surveyed 20,000 adults online across the country. The University of California, Los Angeles tool uses a series of statements and a formula to calculate a loneliness score based on responses. Scores on the UCLA scale range from 20 to 80. People scoring 43 and above were considered lonely in the Cigna survey, with a higher score suggesting a greater level of loneliness and social isolation.

More than half of survey respondents — 54 percent — said they always or sometimes feel that no one knows them well. Fifty-six percent reported they sometimes or always felt like the people around them "are not necessarily withthem." And 2 in 5 felt like "they lack companionship," that their "relationships aren't meaningful" and that they "are isolated from others.
The survey found that the average loneliness score in America is 44, which suggests that "most Americans are considered lonely," according to the report released Tuesday by the health insurer.

Spoiler: Rest of article

Half of Americans view themselves as lonely," said David Cordani, president and CEO of Cigna Corp. "I can't help but be surprised [by that]." (Cigna is an NPR sponsor and a major provider of health insurance for NPR employees.)

But the results are consistent with other previous research, says Julianne ****-Lunstad, a psychologist at Brigham Young University, who studies loneliness and its health effects. She wasn't involved in the Cigna survey. While it's difficult to compare the loneliness scores in different studies, she says, other nationally representative estimates have found between 20 percent and 43 percent of Americans report feeling lonely or socially isolated.

Loneliness has health consequences. "There's a blurred line between mental and physical health," says Cordani. "Oftentimes, medical symptoms present themselves and they're correlated with mental, lifestyle, behavioral issues like loneliness."

Several studies in recent years, including ones by ****-Lunstad, have documented the public health effect of loneliness. It has been linked with a higher risk of coronary heart disease and stroke. It has been shown to influence our genes and our immune systems, and even recovery from breast cancer.

And there is growing evidence that loneliness can kill. "We have robust evidence that it increases risk for premature mortality," says ****-Lunstad. Studies have found that it is a predictor of premature death, not just for the elderly, but even more so for younger people.

The latest survey also found something surprising about loneliness in the younger generation. "Our survey found that actually the younger generation was lonelier than the older generations," says Dr. Douglas Nemecek, the chief medical officer for behavioral health at Cigna.

Members of Generation Z, born between the mid-1990s and the early 2000s, had an overall loneliness score of 48.3. Millennials, just a little bit older, scored 45.3. By comparison, baby boomers scored 42.4. The Greatest Generation, people ages 72 and above, had a score of 38.6 on the loneliness scale.

"Too often people think that this [problem] is specific to older adults," says ****-Lunstad. "This report helps with the recognition that this can affect those at younger ages."

In fact, some research published in 2017 by psychologist Jean Twenge at San Diego State University suggests that more screen time and social media may have caused a rise in depression and suicide among American adolescents. The study also found that people who spend less time looking at screens and more time having face-to-face social interactions are less likely to be depressive or suicidal.

However, the Cigna survey didn't find a correlation between social media use and feelings of loneliness. This would on the surface contradict the new findings on screen time, but ****-Lunstad says that previous research shows that how people use social media determine its influence on one's sense of isolation.

"If you're passively using it, if you're just scrolling feeds, that's associated with more negative effects," she says. "But if you're using it to reach out and connect to people to facilitate other kinds of [in-person] interactions, it's associated with more positive effects."

That last finding is also corroborated by the Cigna survey across all age groups. Respondents who said they have more in-person social interactions on a daily basis reported being less lonely

Anybody need a friend? I'm here

 

[Trapperman Dave]

I wish people would leave me alone enough to actually feel alone. High school was so much simpler

 

[Solo ✧✦✧]

I can believe it

I knew we were headed towards a more lonely and isolated culture when I was able to walk into a room and literally every body I saw was staring at their phones or some type of electronic device and having no social interaction with anyone around them. That's why I don't like to make fun of people for having bad social skills if they're at least open to talking to people. Too many anti-social weirdos in society today.

 

[Trapperman Dave]

I can believe it

I knew we were headed towards a more lonely and isolated culture when I was able to walk into a room and literally every body I saw was staring at their phones or some type of electronic device and having no social interaction with anyone around them. That's why I don't like to make fun of people for having bad social skills if they're at least open to talking to people. Too many anti-social weirdos in society today.

Talking to people in 2018? You acting totally different big fella beyond me

 

[NotAnFBIagent]

 

[JQ Legend]

 

[O.T.I.S.]

Nope...


Im good at the moment


I just want most people to

if they around me with all this dramatic serious shyt

 

[Pazzy]

Two words-social media. Folks don't want to communicate for real because they're too busy faking their lives for people who they don't even know or couldnt give a fukk about them. So when it's time to keep it real or be themselves in front of actual people, they can't. Reality is too difficult for them. Smart phones just made that shyt more accessible. Notice how shyt wasn't so bad before the iPhone came out. People actually had to go on the home computer in order to use social media. Nowadays folks don't even hang out. They just look at each others social media and like posts.

 

[WaveMolecules]

Its paradoxical

I'm lonely, sure but I can't be bothered right now either.

I don't want to small talk, or bullshyt, with friends, let alone strangers.

Vicious cycle


Coli brehs, we all we got

 

[PortCityProphet]

Two words-social media. Folks don't want to communicate for real because they're too busy faking their lives for people who they don't even know or couldnt give a fukk about them. So when it's time to keep it real or be themselves in front of actual people, they can't. Reality is too difficult for them. Smart phones just made that shyt more accessible. Notice how shyt wasn't so bad before the iPhone came out. People actually had to go on the home computer in order to use social media. Nowadays folks don't even hang out. They just look at each others social media and like posts.

I can believe it

I knew we were headed towards a more lonely and isolated culture when I was able to walk into a room and literally every body I saw was staring at their phones or some type of electronic device and having no social interaction with anyone around them. That's why I don't like to make fun of people for having bad social skills if they're at least open to talking to people. Too many anti-social weirdos in society today.

from the article

However, the Cigna survey didn't find a correlation between social media use and feelings of loneliness. This would on the surface contradict the new findings on screen time, but ****-Lunstad says that previous research shows that how people use social media determine its influence on one's sense of isolation.

"If you're passively using it, if you're just scrolling feeds, that's associated with more negative effects," she says. "But if you're using it to reach out and connect to people to facilitate other kinds of [in-person] interactions, it's associated with more positive effects."

 

[kovi]

I'm isolated because my school program is intense PLUS my commute. I do make time to hang out with friends on Saturdays, however.

Possibly would've been different if I stayed on campus but I can sink that extra 4k a semester elsewhere.

 

[unit321]

Americans Are A Lonely Lot, And Young People Bear The Heaviest Burden



Anybody need a friend? I'm here

I guess all those facebook friends weren't real friends.

Really, it's hard to find a best friend when you are an adult who equates to a close high school friend.
High school friends or friends in college or military when you growing up in your late teens and early 20's are unreplaceable homeboys. Its sad when one of them dies.