Anamara Ritt-Olson of UCI Public Health On How We Can Solve The Loneliness Epidemic Among Young People
An interview with Pirie Jones Grossman
Encourage Youth to Volunteer — in a group setting, encouraging your children to volunteer can give them a sense of community that can make them feel connected and not isolated.
Our youth are facing a loneliness epidemic like never before. They have “social” media, but many are lacking healthy social lives. Many have likes and virtual “friends” but not real live friends. They can text and tweet but not speak and listen and connect. And they are feeling it. Humans were made for real live interaction, and we crave it when we don’t get it, or don’t even know how to go about looking for connection. How can we solve this loneliness epidemic that young people face? As a part of our interview series about the ‘5 Things We Can Each Do Help Solve The Loneliness Epidemic Among Young People ’ we had the pleasure to interview Anamara Ritt-Olson.
Anamara Ritt-Olson is an Associate Professor in Residence and the Director of Academic Programs for the program of Public Health at UC Irvine. She is also the Director of Training and Dissemination for the Jacob’s Foundation collaborative: Connecting the EdTech Research Ecosystem (CERES). CERES is housed at UCI but is connected with researchers and stakeholders worldwide.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share your “backstory” with us? What was it that led you to your eventual career choice?
I received a bachelor in fine arts and acting from NYU so my career started with what motivated characters in the context of acting. While at NYU, I was a stage manager for off broadway and from there I took some clinical psychology courses at UCLA. It was there that I was inspired to focus my research around adolescent mental health and wellbeing. At this point in my career, I am reflecting on the disparate parts of my own identity coming to fruition in the role I serve as the Associate Professor in Residence of Health, Society, & Behavior and Director of Academic Program Development & Accreditation at the UCI Program in Public Health.
What was it that led you to your eventual career choice?
My research passion around mental health was driven in large part from my personal history around mental health. My mother battled depression and had repeated suicide attempts that built my resilence as a young person and has shaped how I mother my two children.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career?
One of the more interesting thing that has happened as my career has grown is that my children have as well. I believe I have a strong understanding of the research around adolescent health and well-being but as my children became adolescents I was able to appreciate the challenge of adolescence with new eyes. Their struggles especially during COVId forever changed the way I look at the numbers.
It has been said that sometimes our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about the most humorous mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson or take away you learned from that?
Of the many mistakes I have done and sometimes continue to make are missing deadlines — especially during the point in my life where I was dealing with a multitude of problems. Having lived through those circumstances, I now feel more compassion and empathy towards my students as they navigate this post-COVID-19 world.
Are you working on any exciting new projects now?
I’m currently working on some exciting new projects that I’d love to share with you all. First, I’m honored to be part of a network of researchers and industry partners called the Connecting the EdTech Research EcoSystem (CERES) which brings together a network of researchers, students, industry leaders, and community partners with the shared passion to help improve the educational outcomes and well-being of children around the globe through innovative accessible technology. The CERES network, in conjunction with the Jacobs Foundation, will ensure that the next generation of scientists and leaders in the broad areas of educational and child-focused technology will know how to work together on compelling research and by engaging with our industry partners ensure that this research helps transform diverse communities. I lead the training and mentoring aspect of CERES with sites from Orange County to South Africa to Berlin. Second, I also work with adolescent cancer survivors as they navigate entering adulthood and the complex emotional and physical challenges that entails. Life after cancer for many survivors entails following a care plan to stay healthy — both physically and emotionally. But for young adult survivors of childhood cancer, their care plan can be much more complex as they navigate adulthood and decades of developing other health issues. Many survivors have emotional and social dysfunction that can negatively impact their employment, education and independent living.
How do you think that will help people?
Right now, we have gaps in achievement and well-being. We can utilize technology to close those gaps. We have a lot to learn from our industry partners and we can together help shape programming that is evidence based to achieve more equity.
Can you share with our readers a bit about why you are an authority on the topic of ‘The Loneliness Epidemic Among Young People’?
My extensive research on the interplay between depression and peers makes me an expert on understanding how loneliness is an epidemic among young people.
According to this story in the New York Times, loneliness is becoming an increasing health threat not just in the US, but across the world.
Can you articulate for our readers 3 reasons why being lonely and isolated can harm one’s health?
It may be surprising to read but through my research if you are depressed and socially isolated then your perception of your peers is distorted. It will become harder to connect in a meaningful and helpful way. Your view of the world also becomes distorted which can negatively impact your health — even influence unhealthy behaviors like drug use.
Once you become disconnected from social support systems then your ability to withstand the impact of stress lessens which can cause a multitude of health problems as you get older (e.g. high blood pressure, chronic migraines, etc). Social support can literally keep you alive and ultimately healthy.
For adolescents, when you are isolated from your peers it impacts your ability to develop your self identity. Loneliness can disrupt development and can cause low physical activity. As we have seen during the COVID-19 mandated quarantine, the decrease in physical activity has increased the prevalence of obesity especially in adolescents. There is extensive research on the damaging effects obesity has on a person’s health and wellbeing.
Based on your experience or research, are children impacted differently than adults by the loneliness epidemic? How?
Children are impacted differently than adults because during this stage in their life the ability to properly develop their self identity is paramount. Without social support systems in place, children can develop unhealthy habits that will be difficult to break when they reach adulthood.
On a broader societal level, in which way is loneliness among our youth harming our communities and society?
Our lonely and isolated youth do not have well developed emotional intelligence which in turn will lead to less success.
The irony of having a loneliness epidemic is glaring. We are living in a time where more people are connected to each other than ever before in history. Our technology has the power to connect billions of people in one network, in a way that was never possible. Yet despite this, so many people are lonely.
Why is this?
In some ways the people you saw on social media were too different from yourself. Perfect people posting about their perfect lives just hammered home how unperfect your life was. Recently there has been a movement to show more realness more representation and I think that will truly help.
Can you share 3 of the main reasons why our young people are facing a loneliness epidemic today?
The pandemic and subsequent mandated quarantine is a major reason why young people are facing a loneliness epidemic today. The true impact of being isolated in their home and behind Zoom meetings with no requirement to turn on the camera is still unveiling its consequences on our youth. The disruption of their schooling and ability to function in social settings has a huge impact on our youths mental health.
In a desperate attempt to overcompensate for their children missing out on activities during the quarantine, parents are overbooking activities for their children and therefore youth are losing unstructured time to hang out with their friends. There are many benefits of unstructured free time on a child’s mental health and could be a reason why many are facing a loneliness epidemic.
In a society where we focus so heavily on creating exceptional individuals where we push messages like “be unique, be yourself and be the absolute best you can be” we actually lose the ability to create a mindset of community belonging. Tiger parents (overzealous in pushing their children to be studious) can create lonely kids. To be successful in the singular, we lose the chance to cultivate a sense of neighbor-to-neighbor connections in our youth.
What signs would you tell parents, friends, or loved ones to look for in young people they think may need help? Can you please explain?
Anger and irritability are big signs that you should never dismiss as “normal” teenager behavior. These are signs of mental health internal struggles that manifest into external displays to their friends and loved ones. Another sign is the lack of sound sleep, like if they consistently wake up in the middle of the night, and any peculiar changes to their eating habits, over-eating, under-eating or restrictive eating. I will note that if your child ever makes a statement like the world would be a better place without them, please seek immediate suicide prevention assistance.
In your experience, what are the “5 Things Each Of Us Can Do To Help Solve The Loneliness Epidemic Among Young People?” Please give a story or an example for each.
Community Volunteering — we should all volunteer with youth groups like Boys & Girls Club, YMCA, etc that provide services to the youth so that we can serve as role models. I personally volunteer at a local college and during the finals weeks I give out these creatures that act as stress balls. Lately, almost every single day students are reaching out looking to get a creature to find some comfort during the stressful times. Reach out and do little things that can add up to making a difference in their lives.
Encourage Youth to Volunteer — in a group setting, encouraging your children to volunteer can give them a sense of community that can make them feel connected and not isolated.
Encourage Youth to Join Clubs — another environment that can help connect youth to other youth is through clubs. An art class or stem club where participants are all passionate about the same thing can help create friendships that may continue to strengthen over time.
Support Mental Health Services — we all have power as voters to push initiatives that help expand coverage for mental health services for all.
Physical Activity — not only for young people but also adults it is important to get out and do physical activities like running in marathons, hiking with a club or other team sports. Group fitness is a great way to create connections and get some physical activity going.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)
Despite the progress we have made towards mental health awareness and access, we still need to make great strides towards improving access to mental health services for parents, teens and any other subgroup. With that increased access, we need to train more providers, extend coverage and push awareness that reduces mental health stigma.
We are blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them :-)
I would love to have lunch with Alanis Morissette. I think the spotlight she is providing towards mental health awareness is refreshing and much needed in our current world. Her goal of a stigma-free view of mental illness started with sharing about her battle with depression where it felt like she was trying to move through life stuck in molasses. Her recent song entitled “Rest” was written specifically about those of us who struggle with depression and anxiety, isolation, suicidal ideation and the profound despair that mental illness can plunge us into.
https://planetradio.co.uk/absolute-radio/music/news/alanis-morissette-rest/
How can our readers further follow your work online?
Please follow me on twitter and be sure to check out our UCI Program in Public Health website where you can sign up for our monthly newsletter.
Thank you so much for these insights. This was so inspiring, and so important!
