Two years ago, the Journal of the American Heart Association published a study 40 years in the making that quantified the mental and physical costs of loneliness. Among its findings, those who experience chronic loneliness have about a 30 percent increased risk of heart attack or stroke, equivalent to smoking 15 cigarettes a day. Makes sense. We're gregarious animals. Way back when, community meant safety; loners got eaten, while those living in tribal communities ate. (A solitary hunter was no match for a saber-tooth tiger, while a group could take down a mammoth.) Right up to the Industrial Revolution, our forebears lived, for the most part, where they were born, hung out with the same family and friends from birth to death and, according to historians who study old journals and letters, welcomed the rare opportunity for solitude "as good as a spa day," as one writer put it.
Around 1800, our ancestors began moving away from the family home into anonymous cities, often across oceans, far from their roots. Communities disintegrated and loneliness — which up until then was barely known or acknowledged — became a fact of life. Not for everyone, and not necessarily debilitating, since most found innovative ways of creating communities, natural gregariousness adapting to the new realities. But newly forged bonds kept being interrupted by pandemics, wars, the Depression and, more recently, telecommuting, smartphones and extreme polarization (political, economic, racial, religious). All have taken their toll on previously tight-knit communities, neighborhoods and even churches. Consider for instance:
• Between 1950 and today, one-person households have tripled, now accounting for 29 percent of the total;
• Most people today meet their future spouses on the internet;
• Church membership (a prime way of building community, irrespective of religious belief) is way down, from over 70 percent 50 years ago to less than 50 percent now;
• Working from home, which pre-COVID-19 accounted for 5 percent of all workdays, has tripled.
The net result is that loneliness is on the rise. Not just the odd twinge when we're not invited to a friend's wedding, but chronic, debilitating, paralyzing capital-L, Loneliness. It's morphed in the last few years, from an uncomfortable emotional state to a full-blown epidemic. Surveys show that over 60 percent of us report feeling lonely on a regular basis, and not just older people living on their own, either. The loneliest age group consists of young adults between the ages of 18 and 25 — one in three of them, according to a recent Harvard and Making Caring Common survey.
How bad are the consequences? The American Medical Association reported that chronic loneliness results in a 29 percent increased risk of heart disease and a 32 percent risk of stroke. Other health problems include Type 2 diabetes, depression and anxiety, suicidality and self-harm, dementia — the works. If you're lonely, chances are you'll die sooner and sicker. Two countries, the UK and Japan, consider the problem so severe that they've created ministers of loneliness.
Chances are, our species will adapt to the new conditions and challenges, as it's had to do so often and so well in the past. Hopefully, online communities, Zoom calls, get-together opportunities like weekly farmers markets, meaningful "warm ties" (regular connections we have with baristas, grocery check-out clerks, neighbors and such), all these and more will compensate for the current realities of loosening bonds. They'd better or we can kiss our communal asses goodbye.
Barry Evans (he/him, barryevans9@yahoo.com) considers coming to welcoming Eureka the best move of his life.