Loneliness Affects Over 50% Of Us- How Is This Possible?
And How Can We Get That Number Lowered?
In the United States, 52% of Americans report feeling lonely, while 47% say their relationships with others are not meaningful. Shockingly, 12% feel they have no close friends at all.
I’m normally not the type of person to trust statistics like these when it comes to feelings, however, these statistics blew my mind and made me want to dive deeper to find out why this is.
Emotions Aren’t Real!
Emotions are variable and can change in seconds, depending on what you think about them.
“Oh, I was sad yesterday when I took the survey since I dropped my lunch right before, but today I feel better than ever!” Loneliness, however, seems to be something different to this.
The definition of loneliness states that it is feeling sad about being socially isolated.
Like any feeling such as anger, happiness, or sadness, it is normal to experience this once in a while.
- I can be angry about my computer falling out of my bag and breaking.
- I can be happy that I finally got the promotion that I wanted.
- I can be sad since my girlfriend dumped me.
- I can even feel lonely when I’m by myself on a Saturday night watching Netflix.
Wherever you put your brain to, you can change how you’re feeling.
For example, if you have a pet I want you to think about them for a good second.
Really paint the picture in your head.
Now, imagine that they passed away right this second.
You’re probably feeling a mix of sadness and anger (and you definitely want to punch me in the face.)
But wait!
Let’s say your pet never did die, and actually, it appeared in front of you in a cute costume as well as buckets of candy and pastries.
Now all of a sudden, you feel happy and even thrilled (you may have also forgotten about how badly you wanted to punch me).
Loneliness Is Different
There’s one thing I’ve noticed when looking at these feelings of loneliness that shows the true difference between the feelings of other emotions and this.
Unlike emotions that can come and go quicker than the blink of an eye, these feelings of loneliness don’t seem as malleable.
If it was, the quick and easy solution would be to just go see people. I mean, since the definition is feeling sad since you’re socially isolated, wouldn’t it make sense to just ditch the whole isolation and hang out with other people?
Sadly, it’s not that easy. A survey of 55,000 people revealed that loneliness is not merely fleeting. Even when surrounded by others, most individuals experience intense loneliness. (The study explored various aspects of loneliness and potential solutions).
So what is it then?
The Solution
If we’ve established that loneliness is a feeling, and feelings can change depending on your situation, then loneliness should be solved like this.
The answer lies in your perception of this feeling.
Being alone does not essentially make a person lonely.
It is the perception of being alone which makes the person lonely.
People with low self-esteem and less self-worth tend to feel lonelier than others because they cannot perceive themselves as feeling worthy of love and attention from others.
With that being said, a potential reason that this number has grown so high could be due to social media.
Social Media like Instagram and TikTok are absolute killers to self-esteem and self-worth, and can especially make us more lonely than ever due to a lack of in-person communication.
I have written plenty of articles on Social Media if you want to learn more, but if not below are some action steps you can take to overcome this.
With that being said, potential ways to break out of this loneliness trap and change our perceptions one and for all could be found in these action steps:
- Delete Social Media- We’ve established it could be a parasite in your life, so disconnect once and for all
- Work On Finding Out Who You Are: I can’t tell you exactly what to do with this since we are all different, but try something new. Try something that is going to allow you to fail and try again until you eventually succeed. It’s a scary process, but an amazing way to know yourself.
- Spend Time With Quality People: I know hanging out didn’t work out before, but after you’ve spent some time getting to know yourself things will be different. This time, you’ll be able to feel worthy of love and be able to practice vulnerability with others on how you are feeling and growing.
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