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Americans are lonely and it’s killing them. How the US can combat this new epidemic. (www.usatoday.com)

submitted 10 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

81 comments fedilink hide all child comments

America has a new epidemic. It can’t be treated using traditional therapies even though it has debilitating and even deadly consequences.

The problem seeping in at the corners of our communities is loneliness and U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy is hoping to generate awareness and offer remedies before it claims more lives.

“Most of us probably think of loneliness as just a bad feeling,” he told USA TODAY. “It turns out that loneliness has far greater implications for our health when we struggle with a sense of social disconnection, being lonely or isolated.”

Loneliness is detrimental to mental and physical health, experts say, leading to an increased risk of heart disease, dementia, stroke and premature death. As researchers track record levels of self-reported loneliness, public health leaders are banding together to develop a public health framework to address the epidemic.

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[–] [email protected] 72 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)

I would say in chronological order, social media, violently divisive politics, and the forced isolation of COVID rendered me incapable of socializing anymore.

All of it has made me feel like I cannot function in the presence of others. I still have to go to the office to work, so that's pretty much the extent of interaction I get. Otherwise, outside of work, I tend to not speak at all to anybody.

I won't call it a happy life, but it's safe. I guess I've got whatever a word for social agoraphobia would be now.

I should note that I'm fifty one years old. The first four decades of my life were very social. Then it all gradually faded away.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Social skills are a skill like anything else, and building up the mental stamina to engage other people like a muscle. I know many people who just lost all of that practice and stamina during COVID, and it wasn't a good change for them. I kept up lots of digital contact, like moving weekly pub night with friends to zoom and playing Jack box games, and that helped a lot with keeping those skills.

If you want to start being more social, I would recommend finding little regular ways to rebuild those skills and stamina. Online bookclubs with a monthly web conference can be a good way to start. But if you're happy, best of luck either way! Merry Christmas!

[–] [email protected] 8 points 10 months ago

I kept up lots of digital contact, like moving weekly pub night with friends to zoom and playing Jack box games, and that helped a lot with keeping those skills.

That's a lot harder to do if you don't have such friends to start with.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months ago

Yeah the muscle analogy is what I always use and it’s so true.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 10 months ago

It's like being bullied or grounded for some behavior crime over and over again. After a while a person stops caring about the things that got taken away and goes into suspension about liking anything because that too gets used as a weapon.