The future of social connection

Last week, I wrote about how Gen Z has been suffering with isolation and loneliness at rates far higher than their older counterparts, and higher than even our Millennial neighbors. From social media to the pandemic, there are a host of reasons why this is the case—but I wanted to check with the experts at the Foundation for Social Connection to get more insight on how we got here, and where we might be headed, when it comes to social connection. This week, I chatted with Shannon Vyvijal, Communications and Programming Coordinator at the Foundation for Social Connection (and a Gen Z/Millennial cusp herself), to learn a little bit more about the epidemic of loneliness that Gen Z is up against—and hear some solutions.?

1. Why are Gen Z “the loneliest generation alive”???

“A lot of people’s first thought is that older adults would be the loneliest. But the field has found that 79% of Gen Z report that they've experienced loneliness, and some of the ways that they are suffering contributes to stress, sleeplessness, depression, anxiety, and thoughts of suicide. Chronic social isolation and loneliness puts us at higher risk of heart disease and stroke, dementia, Alzheimer's, diabetes and even premature death. It's really important that we foster social connection because it will reduce our risk of experiencing these things later in life as a preventative measure.

Even though young adults are reporting loneliness at a rate that's two times higher than older adults, the statistics are showing a U-shape where young adults and older adults are at-risk populations. So while older adults will likely experience social isolation, as in actually having objectively fewer interactions and social roles because of mobility, chronic sickness, and death of their friends and family, Gen Z is more likely to experience loneliness—that subjective feeling of a certain kind or level of connection, but being disappointed that they're not feeling more connected. Going away to college, moving away from family and longtime friends, living alone for the first time, especially with COVID—that was particularly hard on this generation. When you're at this age, you're finding your identity and you're kind of navigating a very tech driven world. So, the effect of social media, and supplanting in-person connection with these online experiences, is really contributing to poor connection and feelings of loneliness.”

2. How can we address this challenge??

Here are some of the solutions that Shannon highlighted:

• "Creating or increasing access to social skill building methods and opportunities. That includes social emotional learning programs, mindfulness techniques, cognitive behavioral therapy or CBT. It's reorienting people towards a more positive mindset, helping them to regulate their emotions, and having the social awareness to build supportive relationships with peers. And just because of the interconnectedness of mental health and loneliness, improving or having these skill building things is going to positively impact their ability to connect. It's something that we can be implementing in schools, and developing a whole curriculum on.
• Volunteering, especially intergenerational. It's not just something that can help the people receiving the services. A lot of volunteering services are helping older adults and whatnot. But it can give the youth that are volunteering a sense of purpose and meaning, while helping them feel connected to their communities and have sources of social interaction. A great resource is DOROT, which focuses on intergenerational community and intergenerational programs with weekly activities, Zoom calls, arts and crafts, tutoring, outreach during the holidays. That's definitely something that Gen Z specifically can get involved in.

• Providing safe, accessible community spaces to gather: community centers, public libraries, green spaces, co-working spaces. And the reason I'm putting these forward is we're not spending a lot of in-person time with one another. Group membership has declined; participation in social clubs, especially among Gen Z, has declined. And so getting youth out into their community, participating in community events, allowing them to have those group roles—it's really important and will help build their social network. Some organizations that are focusing on this are Young Futures, and what would be more appropriate for a Gen Z audience, is Hinge. Hinge launched a “One More Hour” initiative, where the whole premise is around addressing the issue that Gen Z aren't participating in social clubs, and they're not spending in-person time connecting. So they are providing funding to social clubs in Atlanta, New York and Los Angeles. So that way, these social clubs and organizations can really entice people to get back involved in group activities.”?

And here are some additional resources:

• The Foundation for Social Connection’s SOCIAL Framework reports use their SOCIAL Framework, developed in partnership with their Scientific Leadership Council, to facilitate and accelerate progress toward a society that values social connectedness in all sectors of society, at every level of influence, and across the lifespan.
• The Foundation’s interactive website, the Action Guide for Building Socially Connected Communities, was created for local leaders, including government officials, non-profit leaders, and small business owners, to provide resources and promising strategies to advance connection and belonging in communities.

3. One bold prediction for the future?

“We see us moving forward to seeing social connection as a national value that we have to prioritize for our collective wellbeing and health. The Surgeon General with his advisory really catalyzed that discussion. And so as we continue to sound the alarm, we're going to have more people wanting to get involved and recognizing that building a socially connected society is essential. We're going to see more people really ask ‘what does the evidence say?’ It won’t be regarded as this 'fuzzy' thing anymore. We need to have effective, evidence-based, promising strategies in order to solve this problem. Lastly, we envision more companies, philanthropic funders, and bipartisan policy makers getting involved. There's a lot of movement on the Hill from both sides of the aisle that they want to introduce legislation that will bolster communities and help them become more connected.”?

The long and short of it:?

1. Gen Z is more at risk of loneliness, which can lead to chronic health issues if it goes unaddressed.?
2. Creating access to social skill building opportunities, volunteering, and making accessible “third-places” for young folks to connect are all essential tools to help navigate the loneliness crisis.?
3. In the wake of the Surgeon General’s report, we will see more and more people start to pay attention to this issue—and as we do, more and more people turn to the research which supports how we can address it.?