13 Jul Correcting Misconceptions About Loneliness
Loneliness has, in recent times, received a lot of attention.
And deservedly so.
Loneliness damages happiness and wellbeing, and, in fact, detracts from pretty much every desirable area of life.
It’s hard to be happy if you’re lonely.
But that being said, the discussion may well have come to include a number of mistakes and misconceptions. Correcting these will be important to making positive change and to helping more, in need, enjoy more happiness …
via Psychology Today by Todd Kashdan
KEY POINTS
- It is unclear whether loneliness is on the rise.
- Loneliness is more problematic when socializing.
- No proof of an epidemic is needed to shift how we relate to each other with warmth and compassion.
Source: Florence Guan/Dazed
Read a newspaper, listen to a podcast, or head to a highway rest stop bathroom and you’re likely to hear about Surgeon General Vivek Murthy’s 2023 mission to curb loneliness (click here to download his report). In 2021, the Japanese government appointed a Loneliness Minister to counter hikikomori (“acute social withdrawal”), which followed the British Prime Minister’s appointment of a Minister for Loneliness in 2018 to confront this “sad reality of modern life.”
Hyperbolic descriptions litter government reports with loneliness characterized as an “epidemic” that is a “new silent killer.” Well, get ready for the plot twist:
- There is strong scientific evidence that loneliness is on the rise.
- There is strong scientific evidence that loneliness is declining over time.
- There is strong scientific evidence that loneliness has remained the same since the mid 1900s.
So you can derive any story you want!
… keep reading the full & original article HERE