Member-only story
Featured
Loneliness in the Age of Constant Connection
When connection becomes the cause of disconnection
Technology has given humans countless ways to communicate with one another.
Even if we don’t live in the same location or see one another in person, we have mobile phones, email, texting, apps, social media, FaceTime and video conferencing to help us keep in touch.
What’s more, many of us live in more dense urban and suburban settings than ever before.
So why do we all feel so alone? And, more importantly, what can we do about it?
Loneliness is not what you think it is
To understand loneliness, you first need to forget everything you think you know about what it means to be lonely.
Many people hear the word “loneliness” and assume it can’t be the problem they face because they’re not technically “alone.” Many people who suffer from loneliness live with family members, or seem constantly surrounded by colleagues and friends.
A pioneer in researching loneliness, psychiatrist Frieda Fromm-Reichmann, defined loneliness in a broader way. Fromm-Reichmann, who published some of the earliest studies in the 1950s on the effects of loneliness, offered a definition that focused on loneliness…
