Widespread loneliness in the United States poses health risks as deadly as smoking a dozen cigarettes a day and costs the health care industry billions of dollars a year, the United States Chief Medical Officer warned on Tuesday. United in declaring this to be the latest public health outbreak.
About half of American adults say they have experienced loneliness, said Dr. Vivek Murthy in a report released by his office.
“We now know that loneliness is a common feeling for many people. It’s like hunger or thirst. It’s a feeling the body sends us when we miss something we need to survive, Vivek Murthy said in an interview with The Associated Press.
“Millions of people in America are struggling in the shadows, and that’s not normal. That’s why I posted this review to lift the lid on a struggle that too many people are having. »
Research shows that Americans — who have become less engaged with places of worship, community organizations and even their own family members over the past few decades — have consistently reported an increase in feelings of loneliness. The number of isolated households has also doubled over the past 60 years.
But the crisis deepened as COVID-19 spread, prompting schools and workplaces to close and pushing millions of Americans into self-isolation at home, away from parents or friends. their friends.
According to the Chief Medical Officer’s report, people have reduced their group of friends during the coronavirus pandemic and spent less time with them. In 2020, Americans spent about 20 minutes a day in person with their friends, up from 60 minutes a day nearly twenty years earlier.
Technology has exacerbated the problem
The loneliness epidemic hits young people between the ages of 15 and 24 particularly hard. This age group saw a 70% drop in time spent with friends over the same period.
Loneliness increases the risk of premature death by almost 30%, with the report finding that people with poor social relationships also have a higher risk of stroke and heart disease. Isolation also increases the risk of depression, anxiety and dementia.
Dr. Murthy is calling on workplaces, schools, tech companies, community organizations, parents and others to make changes that will make the country more connected.
He advises people to join community groups and put down their phones when they find friends; employers to think carefully about their remote working policy; and health systems to train physicians to recognize the health risks of loneliness.
Technology has quickly exacerbated the problem of loneliness. A study cited in the report found that people who used social media for two or more hours a day were twice as likely to feel socially isolated as those who used these apps for less than 30 minutes a day.
According to Dr. Murthy, social media is one of the causes of the increase in loneliness. Its report suggests that tech companies are putting in place protections for children, especially when it comes to their behavior on social media.
“There’s no substitute for face-to-face interaction,” said Dr. Murthy. As we increasingly use technology to communicate, we have lost much of that in-person interaction. How do we design technology that strengthens our relationships instead of weakening them? »