TIL America’s Loneliness Epidemic: Nearly 40 MILLION American adults now live alone and they are 64% more likely to be depressed than their peers
TIL America’s Loneliness Epidemic: Nearly 40 MILLION American adults now live alone and they are 64% more likely to be depressed than their peers
A recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has shed light on a growing concern in the United States: the loneliness epidemic. The report estimates that nearly 40 million American adults are living alone, a staggering 15% increase from the numbers recorded in 2012. This...
I live with my SO and child and I'm still lonely as fuck. Not their fault, it's not their role to be my therapist or w/e. But I sure wouldn't mind being able to hang out with some people who share my interests. But ever since Covid, that reality is just... gone.
It's also a symptom of the way American cities and suburbs are designed. Where are the third places where you can walk to for hanging out after work? Where are the parks with restaurants, events, space for exercise? And even if they do exist, you're packing up your car to be outside maybe once a week (because it's a big thing to get your kid in the car) instead of just stepping out of the house.
Living life in most of the US is designed to feel lonely.
Any online communities? What are your interests and most likely someone here on Lemmy is also a vore larping furry.
I'm a Reddit refugee from when they axed 3rd party apps. I was quite active in the ancient coins subreddit, but there's simply no way I will ever grace their site with a click again.
There's an alternative on Lemmy, which I've used, but there's literally only one other active person. Two does not a community make.
a staggering 15% increase from the numbers recorded in 2012.
Is it though? I did not "stagger back" when I read that, nor was I "astonished or deeply shocked" upon learning this, and if anything, the rate of increase seems to have slowed down quite a bit from the 60s & 70s, based on the slope of the red squiggly line.
It seems rather like this increase was entirely to be expected, and if anything might be lower than some naive expectations based on that earlier slope value would have predicted?
But that description would probably bait fewer clicks so... shockingly staggeringly extremely excessively massive increases in numbers it is then, it seems. A whopping 15%.
I’ve started living alone, and I couldn’t be happier. Alone isn’t lonely.
Although it’s a lot more expensive.
This doesn't really discuss how exactly the correlation works. I'd be interested to know if in some cases depression causes living alone instead of the other way around. I know I've isolated myself when depressed. Not having to share spaces also helps with anxiety, which often comes with depression. Also maybe there's some personality types that a both more prone to depression and more inclined to prefer solitude.
In summary I'd be interested to see a further exploration of how exactly these work together
I have a sneaking suspicion that neither of these two factors is the cause. Maybe a third thing. Or a fourth or fifth or...
Who could afford such a thing, rent is crazy
Rent is crazy regardless. Someone with an SO and children have many more expenses than someone alone.