A global wave of loneliness plagues young people
Loneliness is no longer just a problem for older people. More and more young people are lonely - all over the world. Those who are isolated fall ill more quickly - and are more susceptible to extremists.
Instagram, Whatsapp, Snapchat, YouTube or Tiktok: young people in Germany are spending more and more time on the internet. According to a Bitkom study, 16 to 18-year-olds spend almost three hours online every day. The older they are, the more time they spend online, mainly chatting and streaming.
Although young people are connected via social media on all channels, they are also lonelier than ever. They have hundreds of followers and write dozens of messages a day - but they hardly have any real friends.
More and more young people are feeling lonely, especially since the pandemic. Before coronavirus, one in seven people under 30 were "sometimes lonely", according to a study by the think tank Progressives Zentrum. During the second coronavirus wave, it was almost one in two teenagers and young adults. This means that no other age group feels as lonely as 18 to 29-year-olds.
"We often think of old people when we talk about loneliness," says Michelle Deutsch, Project Manager at the Progessriven Center, in the ntv podcast "Wieder was gelernt". Loneliness among young people is often neglected.
Pandemic of isolation
The situation is similar for teenagers and young adults worldwide. The coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated the problem: according to a study by the EU Commission's scientific service, it was mainly older people in the EU who were affected by loneliness before the pandemic began. From April to July 2020 alone, the proportion of lonely 18 to 25-year-olds rose to 36%, a fourfold increase.
Why is that? Social media and smartphone use play a major role, as they promote loneliness. Two US psychologists have identified a correlation in a study. If smartphone access and internet use were high in schools, so was loneliness. In the six years after 2012, the figures rose dramatically. In Europe, Latin America and the English-speaking countries, they roughly doubled and in the East Asian countries they rose by around 50 percent. The authors therefore recommend banning smartphones in schools.
One reason for this is obvious: if everyone is always looking at their cell phone everywhere, chance encounters become rarer. Those who are always glued to their cell phones neglect their real-life friendships. Chats usually remain superficial, online contacts break off more quickly.
Lonely in the group
"The pandemic in particular has shown once again how young people in particular have been hit hard by the effects of the pandemic: School closures, the loss of leisure activities - the reality of their lives has been hit harder," explains expert Deutsch.
The risk of becoming lonely is higher among low-income earners, people with a low level of education and people with a migration background, according to the Progressive Center's study. Michelle Deutsch puts it like this: "If you don't have the money to go out for coffee with friends, you stay at home and get lonely.
However, a distinction must be made between loneliness and being alone. People who are lonely don't feel close to other people and have the feeling that they have too few contacts. "Loneliness is not just the feeling of being alone, but not having someone you can rely on, someone you can depend on. You have the feeling of not being part of a social group," explains Deutsch in the "Wieder was gelernt" podcast.
If you live alone and don't meet anyone, you may be alone, but you're not necessarily lonely. You can be in a relationship and have lots of friends, but still feel lonely. Even in a large group: "You don't feel like you belong to the people around you. You feel like you have no connection to your classmates. That's probably much, much more depressing."
Loneliness increases the risk of illness
Loneliness is much more than just a bad feeling. It can make you ill. Social isolation can be as harmful as 15 cigarettes a day, according to a recent study. Even greater than the effects of obesity and lack of exercise. According to the study, lonely people have a higher risk of cardiovascular disease, dementia, strokes, depression and anxiety. The WHO also considers lonely people to be at a higher risk of suicide. The risk is said to be as high as or higher than the risk of death from tobacco consumption, obesity or air pollution.
Lonely and socially isolated children and young people can develop depression, the study by the Progressive Center says. And it has identified another consequence: loneliness is bad for democracy. "The feeling of being lonely makes you vulnerable to extreme attitudes and, above all, right-wing extremist attitudes," says Deutsch. Lonely young people tend to have a conspiracy mentality and are open to political violence.
Loneliness is more widespread where there are fewer green spaces and leisure activities. "If there are no more places I can turn to, I'm easier to reach, easier to approach for people who offer themselves as caretakers and also associate their own political agenda with it," reports Deutsch.
The expert recommends that it is important for young people to have more direct local offers so that they don't slip away - more prevention and education. The Federal Ministry for Family Affairs has been working on a strategy against loneliness since last year. The UK tackled the problem earlier: it was the first country in the world to set up a Ministry for Loneliness in 2018.
Young people attending the International Youth School might be unaware of the impact of social networks on their emotions. Despite being connected through these platforms, they might still feel isolated and lonely, a trend seen globally among their peers.
Further research is needed to explore the relationship between the increasing use of social networks in schools, particularly in Europe and English-speaking countries, and the rise in feelings of loneliness among young people.
Source: www.ntv.de
