We are more connected than ever before, yet we somehow feel more isolated. We have the ability to reconnect with our high school classmates and talk to our heroes on social media, yet we feel that we have fewer intimate connections than the generations before us. And it’s not just ...
We are more connected than ever before, yet we somehow feel more isolated. We have the ability to reconnect with our high school classmates and talk to our heroes on social media, yet we feel that we have fewer intimate connections than the generations before us. And it’s not just a nagging feeling in the back of our minds, it is affecting our physical health, too. Feelings of loneliness and isolation affect all types and ages of people, although some, like adolescents, are more likely to be impacted than others. The perception of loneliness varies from person to person, depending on age, group, and the society people live in. Research shows that some people might lead seemingly normal lives but still feel incredibly lonely. This research will try to find reasons why that might be the case.
Loneliness is a state of solitude or being alone, it is actually a state of mind. Loneliness is also defined as feeling lonely repeatedly, or more than once a week. Loneliness is not necessarily about being alone. Instead, if you feel lonely and isolated, then that is how loneliness plays into your state of mind, ‘the inability to find meaning in one’s life.’ It is a distressing experience that happens when a person’s social life is seen by that person to be less in quantity, and especially in quality than desired. The experience of loneliness is highly subjective, for example, a person can be alone without feeling lonely, and another person can feel lonely despite being surrounded by other people. Loneliness could be a result of various situational variables, such as physical isolation, facing a new change like moving to a new location or moving schools, divorce or parents or your own, and last but not least, death. The death of someone significant in a person’s life can lead to feelings of loneliness, and it can be a leading symptom of a psychological disorder such as depression. As a person adjusts to those new changes, feelings of loneliness may pass, but sometimes they persist. Persistent loneliness is not only emotionally painful but can be more damaging to our physical and mental health than many other psychological illnesses. Loneliness is also attributed by internal factors, such as low self-esteem. People who lack confidence and have low self-esteem often believe and seem themselves as unworthy of attention or regard to other people. This can also lead to depression and chronic loneliness. An individual with loneliness can experience a series of symptoms, such as decreased body energy, inability to focus, sleeping issues like insomnia or interrupted sleep, decreased appetite, feelings of self-doubt, hopelessness, or worthlessness, substance misuse, and feelings of anxiousness or restlessness. All these symptoms could also be a sign of some health risks associated with loneliness, such as depression and suicide, stress, cardiovascular diseases, alcoholism and drug abuse, and the progression of Alzheimer’s disease. These are not the only areas in which loneliness takes its toll. Moreover, lonely adults exercise less than those who are not lonely. Their diet is higher in fat, their sleep is less efficient, and they have more daytime fatigue. Loneliness also disturbs the regulation of cellular processes deep within the body, swaying us to premature aging. Treatment includes improving social skills by meeting new people or going to gatherings, enhancing social support offered by professional help, increasing opportunities for social interaction, and changing maladaptive thinking.
Furthermore, loneliness could be recognized into four types according to its causes; emotional loneliness, situational loneliness, social loneliness, chronic loneliness. Emotional loneliness is defined as not having a significant emotional connection with at least one other individual. It focuses on perceptions of the quality of one’s relationships. Emotional loneliness in an adult life is mostly a tipoff that one’s relationships in childhood were not nurturing or supportive enough. If an individual suffered emotional deprivation, they will be familiar with feeling unseen. A lack of social confidence is another cardinal sign of growing up in an emotionally deprived environment. For instance, if you grew up with emotional neglect within your family, in adulthood you might find yourself attracted to people who avoid emotional intimacy and who are inconsistent in their lovingness. On the other hand, situational loneliness occurs when there are changes in an individual’s life that cause them to feel isolated. Sometimes, this feeling of being behind or of feeling like everyone is moving on and excelling without you can lead to feelings of isolation and loneliness. It can result from being in circumstances that make developing friendships difficult. For example, people who choose to work or study abroad, perhaps in places where they do not speak the language perfectly or where it holds different cultural backgrounds than theirs. Moreover, social loneliness describes the absence of social contact. It is the state of being cut off from normal social networks, which can be triggered by factors such as loss of mobility, unemployment, or health issues. It also focuses on perceptions of the quantity of one’s social relationships. Social loneliness is typically experienced by those who have problems in social situations because of shyness, social awkwardness, or a sense of low self-esteem that makes them doubt their capacity to be competent and entertaining in social circumstances. Finally, chronic loneliness is a term uses to describe those who have been lonely for so long that it has became a way of life to them. It is often a by-product of circumstances, unlike situational loneliness, it can go on for so long that it almost becomes a lifestyle for them. Examples include the elderly whose friends have largely passed away or moved into nursing care, while adult children live far away or those who are inhibited from socializing by a controlling partner or other circumstances that feel out of their control.
Furthermore, as the perception of loneliness depends on various factors such as society, how has society changed to cause this to be a more prevalent problem? Loneliness affects all of us at some point in our lives. Relocating to a new area, losing a loved one, and starting a course at university are all key times when people feel lonely. This experience of loneliness is useful in a way, it acts as a motivator for us to reconnect with others and to seek out new friendships to reduce the ‘social pain’ that we feel. But for some, reconnection is not easy or sometimes not possible, if an individual is socially isolated, people can remain in this uncomfortable state of loneliness for a long period of time. On the other hand, as we age, many of us are alone more often than we were younger, leaving us vulnerable to social isolation and loneliness. Loneliness can strike an individual at any age, although the cause might vary from one period to another. Feelings of loneliness depend on one’s aspirations for contact, perception of contact, and evaluation of social ties. In other words, loneliness is subjective. It is the somber gap between the relationships a person has and the relationships they want. It all depends on what we believe to be ‘normal.’ If our social life looks like what we would expect for someone our age, we are less likely to start fretting about our connections, triggering the alarm bells of loneliness. However, although over time technology made it easier to contact people and reach anyone around the world in a matter of seconds, intending to create a heightened level of interconnectivity between users by making us feel more involved in our friends’ lives when we are not physically present, in reality, this triggers sentiments of isolation and self-consciousness. People need real, in-person interactions to combat the negatives impacts of loneliness technology has caused.
In conclusion, loneliness has a lot of impacts on both our mental health and physical health, many people are hesitant to seek help and the community does nothing in order to make it easier. However, any person suffering from loneliness can find help if they genuinely wish to improve, by going to more gathering and meeting new people, or to project it in an activity or a hobby. Loneliness is equally as important as other serious mental disorders and it should be given the same importance.
