Only The Lonely!

Despite living in a world that’s always connected, people are feeling lonelier than ever – and the scary part is it’s contagious.

- Karen Fong

The average Facebook user has more than 300 friends, so you would think we’re the least loneliest generation. After all, you know what your friends are doing, thinking and even reading at any given moment.

However, research that compared people from 1985 to today found that the number of people who have no close friends has tripled. So why are so many of us so lonely?

Catch the bug

A 2009 study titled “Alone in the Crowd” showed that loneliness can spread like a bad cold. “The traditional perspective on human emotion is that emotions are an individual experience. But we don’t just have these emotions, we show them. Other people can read them, copy them and internalise them,” says Dr. Nicholas A. Christakis, one of the researchers in the study. “People can feel lonely even when they’re surrounded by other people,” he adds.