Study Suggests Young Americans Are The Loneliest

Who are the loneliest people in America? It’s probably not the demographic you think.

According to a study from Cigna, young Americans are the loneliest. That’s right. It’s not senior citizens (that’s usually everyone’s first guess).

Young people are far more likely than senior citizens to report being lonely and in poor health, a surprising survey of 20,000 Americans released Tuesday shows.

The overall national loneliness score was alarmingly high at 44 on a 20-to-80 scale, but the prevalence of social isolation among those ages 18 to 22 raises even more concern. The younger people, part of Generation Z, had loneliness scores of about 48 compared with nearly 39 for those 72 and older.

The study was sponsored by the global insurer and health services company Cigna, which is concerned about loneliness as a societal problem but also because it’s not just making us sad: It can literally make us sick.

I attribute a lot of this to the presence of social media. You’d think the opposite would be true. After all, we’re all connected. We’re posting pictures and statuses daily. But the truth is, human interaction is important. There’s a difference between texting someone and seeing them face-to-face. I’m a millennial, and I’ll say it. So many millennials don’t know how to talk to people IN PERSON anymore. We don’t even like talking on the phone because it can get “too awkward.”

We have the world at our fingertips. We can “stalk” our friends and family members online anytime we want, yet we’re “lonely,” and it’s making us physically ill.

Loneliness actually has the same effect  on mortality as smoking 15 cigarettes a day, which makes it even more dangerous than obesity, says Cigna, citing a 2010 report. And while the new findings don’t draw any direct links to increased rates of suicide among teens or the opioid epidemic, Cigna CEO David Cordani says it’s clear addressing loneliness will help solve other problems.

“If their sense of health and well-being is more positive, then less destructive activities transpire,” Cordani says.

I believe it. So much of what we see on social media is a lie. It’s a facade. Young people want to look young, hip and social, but THEY’RE NOT. I think it all goes back to forging deep and meaningful relationships. We don’t have many of those.

While some people may compensate by finding connections on social media, that can provide a false sense of relief, says Jagdish Khubchandani, a health science professor at Ball State University in Muncie, Ind. This type of socialization often leads people to spend time alone on computers in their homes, leading them to gain weight and shun face-to-face interaction, he said.

“I have students who tell me they have 500 ‘friends,’ but when they’re in need, there’s no one,” Khubchandani says.

Exactly. It all goes back to cutting through the crap and forging REAL relationships. Stop trying to please the world. Stop trying to convince everyone you’re cool. If you’re 10,000 Twitter followers think you’re cool, what does that gain you really? Nothing.

You get what I’m saying.

ANYWAY. I didn’t mean to get preachy. I just thought this study was interesting, because knowing how my generation operates, I can see how it’s true.

h/t USA Today