Plenty of nations have reported a surprising increase in the amount of citizens going through chronic loneliness. This essay will take a deeper look in why this happens, and what we can do to help reduce this.
First off, chronic loneliness can be attributed to the steady increase of economic stress put onto the younger generation. House prices have gone up significantly in the past decade, where supply continues to dwindle and demand continues to rise. This leads to people putting in more hours to work, instead of daily social interaction. Secondly, as the world continues to modernize in this day and age, digital technology becomes an integral part of our social life. This causes a reduction in face-to-face interactions, and an increase in digital interactions. Lastly, research shows that club interactions, after-school activities, church volunteering has steadily declined, causing less social interactions than one would typically have on a day-to-day basis.
However, there are solutions to these problems. One such solution may include the active involvement of an individual in clubs, volunteering work, and low-cost social gatherings. These may include volunteering in churches, your local park, efforts to clean the environment, and attending conventions for your favourite hobby. Another idea may be to apply the 10-minute rule, where you set aside 10 minutes of every hour to talk to friends, family, and a loved one. If the solutions above do not work, you can reduce screen time usage, and go outside, talk to strangers, and explore the world.
In conclusion, chronic loneliness has been a result of elements both inside and outside of our control. Even though, we cannot change external factors, we have to try our hardest to improve our internal factors – ones that we can change – in order to not suffer from chronic loneliness.