Loneliness: The Great Hidden Pandemic

The world is still immersed in the fight against the Coronavirus and seeks to find its way back to normality with unrestricted travelling and unrestricted social interaction. But there is another not much talked about pandemic that has been present long time before we even heard of Covid-19 and that got only worse through strict measures like lockdowns, home office and social distancing: loneliness.

Many western and industrialized nations try to tackle old-age poverty which goes hand in hand with social isolation and loneliness of our senior citizens. But astonishingly enough, it is not the elderly who feel particularly lonely. According to statistics the group of the 31- to 40-year-old is feeling most lonely, followed by the 21- to 30-year-old.

According to a survey, one third of Germans feel sometimes lonely while one sixth suffer acutely from loneliness. MarketWatch found out that a staggering 51% of Americans take prescription medication to combat emotional and physical problems due to loneliness. 46% of Australia’s senior population feel lonely, compared to 62% of young adults, says PsychWeek. The Huffington Post reported that Japan has 30,000 Kodokushis per year. Kodokushi is the Japanese term for people dying alone and staying undiscovered for a long time. Kodokushi translates to lonely death.

Loneliness is not only cause for many mental problems like depression or anxiety, but it can have a severe impact on the physical health of an individual. Scientist found out that loneliness is as harmful as smoking 15 cigarettes a day or drinking alcohol excessively on a daily basis. Loneliness is in fact so harmful to a person’s health that it increases the probability of dying by 26%.

The situation is in fact so severe that the International Red Cross speaks of loneliness as the great hidden pandemic. In 2018 the UK was the world’s first country to create a ministry of loneliness and Japan has appointed the first minister of loneliness earlier this year. Attempts of both countries to battle the increasing social isolation of their populations – in the case of the UK without great success.

Researchers have identified a number of reasons that lead to an increased feeling of loneliness. Increased freelance activities and constant pressure to secure the next job lead to a cocooning effect, where work becomes the decisive factor in life and leaves no room for social interactions. Also, the ever-increasing use of social media with its anti-social effect on the youngest cause a lack of sense of belonging.

Strict lockdowns and home office rules mean for many a constant state of isolation at home without the chance of interaction. The office is for many not just a workplace, but also a place of social engagement, a place where friendships can grow and an exchange with colleagues takes place – whether it is during a quick coffee break with a co-worker or over lunch with the team.

These interactions are important for the productivity, performance and health of employees. Humans are social creatures that have lived in groups ever since, uniting often more than 2 generations under one roof. The young learned from the old, the old helped taking care of the smallest and the sense of community and belonging was the social glue between the members of a family, group or village. Togetherness was essential for survival.

Today’s modern society creates lone fighters, each on their own, one again another. And while some think it will bring out the best in each individual, a lot of creativity and social competence is lost with knowledge not being shared for the mutual benefit of the community or the team.

Twitter was one of the very first companies to announce that they would make the home office model permanent, but it is highly questionable if the firm is doing itself a favour by robbing their employees and creative heads of the opportunity to meet, interact, exchange ideas and collaborate.

And what’s true for employees is true for managers, executives and principles, too. We need to talk to each other to strive and grow. Technologies like Zoom and Microsoft Teams saved many businesses, and many business models were transformed to offer virtual services, but they cannot make up for a permanent lack of physical engagement between people.

“No level of technological sophistication can replace a handshake” – David Grammig