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San Mateo County recently became the first county in the country to recognize loneliness as a public health emergency. The county Board of Supervisors voted unanimously last week to approve a resolution introduced by Supervisor David Canepa declaring loneliness a health emergency. In the resolution, Canepa outlined several strategies to address loneliness. These include strengthening social infrastructure, implementing pro-connection public policies, mobilizing the health sector, conducting research to deepen knowledge, reforming online environments and fostering a culture of connection. “Many people are suffering alone in silence, and there’s no cure for it,” Canepa said.... Following the resolution, Canepa wrote a...

BOGOTÁ, Colombia—Minnesota comedian Tou Ger Xiong had fallen in love with the expat lifestyle in the vibrant Colombian city of Medellín: stock trading by day, fine dining and dance clubs by night. He was one of a rising number of Americans and foreign nationals who began flocking to the country after the Covid-19 pandemic, some on new digital nomad visas introduced to help spur a growing startup scene. But hours after prosecutors say he went out on a date on Dec. 10, he was calling family and friends back home to wire him $2,000, telling them he had been kidnapped...

On Tuesday, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) announced on Twitter that he is introducing “a groundbreaking bill — the National Strategy for Social Connection Act.” Its goal is to address the “epidemic” of loneliness and social isolation in the United States right now that threatens “individual health and longevity” and decreases “community resilience, safety, and economic prosperity.” But while this is certainly a problem that must be addressed — and I applaud Sen. Murphy for bringing the subject into the national conversation — it is not one government can solve. First, we ought to understand this crisis — and it is...

NEW YORK (AP) — At the end of “The Searchers,” one of John Wayne’s most renowned Westerns, a kidnapped girl has been rescued and a family reunited. As the closing music swells, Wayne’s character looks around at his kin — people who have other people to lean on — and then walks off toward the dusty West Texas horizon, lonesome and alone. It’s a classic example of a fundamental American tall tale — that of a nation built on notions of individualism, a male-dominated story filled with loners and “rugged individualists” who suck it up, do what needs to be...

To insist that any determined individual can overcome loneliness if she tries hard enough is to ignore the social conditions that make loneliness so common, Lutkin writes. In her case, there were strong economic reasons that she focused on work rather than on love for many years; she also pursued people who didn’t return her affections. And some significant part of her loneliness came not from being single but from living in a world that regards a romantic partner as the sine qua non of happy adulthood. Ironically, she suggests, celebrating single women as avatars of modern female empowerment has...

ANALYSIS: Students no longer know how to relate to one another face to face College students are isolated. A Harvard study from last year found 61 percent of young adults ages 18 to 25 feel “serious loneliness,” with 43 percent of these respondents reporting increases since the pandemic. The Healthy Minds Study, which surveyed students at 36 schools during fall 2020, also found 66 percent felt isolated from others. Every month or so, I see a new post on my university Reddit board from a student, who has nowhere else to turn, asking how to make friends. The college subreddit...

ENGLEWOOD, Colorado. — A gynecologic oncologist at Swedish Medical Center in Englewood said she is seeing more late-stage cervical cancer cases because so many women put off their screening tests during the pandemic. “Screening went down drastically during the pandemic, especially during the times of lockdown,” Dr. Allison Staley said. Additionally, she said as women skipped their PAP and HPV tests, some cancers, or abnormalities went undiagnosed, and now she is seeing more late-stage cancers. “The majority of them are further along, they are more advanced, and we’re seeing that people are having to have additional hospitalization for further work...

When she had the routine of home, Angie Sinopoli was the talkative matriarch of a large Italian family who heaped praise on her children and grandchildren, even as her memory faded. Her youngest son, Steven, came by her house and cooked her dinner nearly every night. But after a couple of falls and bouts in rehabilitation centers, she ended up in a Syracuse nursing home on March 10. Two days later, it stopped all visits to protect residents from the coronavirus. Mrs. Sinopoli hasn’t seen family in more than nine months. Her vocabulary has dwindled to about 20 words. Early...

The US Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee, Don Cochran, said Sunday that the man responsible for the explosion that shook Downtown Nashville on Christmas morning has been positively identified. ... It was also revealed Sunday that a song played before the audio warning and countdown. The song was “Downtown,” the 1964 hit by Petula Clark. The investigation continues into a possible motive and officials are probing whether Warner was a believer of the 5G conspiracy theory. Some people believe 5G towers cause cancer or are used by the federal government for spying on citizens. According to ABC News’...

The CDC wants Americans to have 'virtual' Thanksgivings, staycation holidays, and gatherings with only your household to avoid spreading COVID-19. But loneliness is a scourge, too. Make this the most joyous holiday season yet. In a nation fatigued by social distancing and dying to escape loneliness, the inimitable Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued recommendations for how to have a “safe” holiday season. Spoiler: A CDC-compliant season will not be “the most wonderful time of the year.”Our national public health experts have steered us confidently through some murky waters. After all, how else would we know that public...

“Pretty,” was the word an Alabama senior used to describe the lifelike robotic companion pet she received from a new pilot project administered by the Alabama Department of Senior Services. It was the first word she had said in a long time, according to department Commissioner Jean Brown. The Alabama agency, along with several other state agencies managing programs for seniors in New York, Florida and Pennsylvania, have partnered with robotic pet manufacturer Ageless Innovation to combat loneliness and provide comfort and companionship for isolated seniors. With insight into the growing epidemic of loneliness and need for interactive play amongst...

Amidst the loneliness and suffering caused by the extended lockdowns, Americans have an opportunity to reconnect with their Creator. It seems to be part of human nature to postpone, for as long as possible, a realistic appraisal of looming catastrophe. At the start of the U.S. Civil War, both sides were so certain of a short, bloodless conflict that the first battle at Manassas was attended by hundreds of holiday picnickers from nearby Washington. Some sipped champagne, hoping to catch a glance what they assumed would be fleeting hostilities.The initial U.S. response to COVID-19 followed a similar pattern, as many...

Since isolation is the new theme for the indefinite future, how about listing your favorite solitude, alone or loneliness songs.

There are certain issues that you’d expect to be top-of-mind for older Americans, whether it be Social Security, Medicare, or scams that target seniors. But as I traveled through my district this year and held workshops for seniors across Maryland, there was one topic that I was surprised came up again and again: loneliness. The crisis of social isolation and loneliness currently affects almost half of our population, and seniors are front and center. In 2018, a national poll revealed that nearly half of all Americans suffer from social isolation and chronic loneliness. That’s almost 164 million people – across...

Elizabeth Warren was hiking on the Pacific Crest Trail in central Washington with her husband last fall and texting nature photos back and forth with Jay Inslee, the state's governor, who at that moment happened to be hiking in the San Juan Islands with his wife. Inslee had recently dropped out of the 2020 presidential race, while Warren was fresh off a sizable rally under Seattle's Space Needle, making them a part of a very small club of people on planet Earth who know what it's like to be put through the peculiar wringer of trying to become leader of...

Here are some unhappy statistics: -- In America between 1946 and 2006, the suicide rate quadrupled for males ages 15 to 24 and doubled for females the same age. -- In 1950, the suicide rate per 100,000 Americans was 11.4. In 2017, it was 14. -- According to Grant Duwe, director of research and evaluation at the Minnesota Department of Corrections, in the 1980s, there were 32 mass public shootings (which he defines as incidents in which four or more people are killed publicly with guns within 24 hours). In the 1990s, there were 42. In the first decade of...

A year ago last month, I welcomed former UK Prime Minister Theresa May to a community center tucked under a bridge in rapidly-changing south London. She was there to meet younger and older neighbors who were enjoying a quiz hosted by the charity I run, and to launch the world's first ever government-level loneliness strategy. As May mingled with octogenarians and millennials and shared local trivia over tea and biscuits, her strategy was being met with a mixture of derision, gratitude and curiosity. For critics, loneliness was nothing more than a natural and episodic personal emotion — an unavoidable part...

Transience is the very essence of the entertainment business, unpredictability its warp and weft. Early this month, the market research and data analytics firm YouGov published the results of a startling poll. According to interviews with 1,254 adult Americans, 30 percent of millennials have no best friends, 27 percent have no close friends and 22 percent have no friends at all. Not surprisingly, the report named them “the loneliest generation.” But loneliness is all around and perhaps nowhere more profoundly than in Hollywood. Here’s what surprised me: that the statistics weren’t worse, for older people as well as millennials. Look...

Recent shootings serve to highlight how we live in times that are violent and lonely. Young shooters are breaking the precarious rhythms of our daily lives with tragedy. We know little about them. However, one thing they all have in common is loneliness. The Loner as Ideal Revolutionary In times past, subversives would seek strength in organization and numbers. They would conspire with others to carry out their nefarious deeds. Intelligence services could trace links and patterns to uncover vast conspiracies. The loner finds his strength in loneliness. He does not need or seek others. There is no organization or...

A nationwide poll has revealed that 89 per cent of 16- to 29-year-olds believe that their lives have no meaning or purpose. The poll, conducted by Japanese company Yakult and reported by The Sun, also found that 30 per cent of young people believe they are stuck in a rut with 84 per cent saying that they believe they are failing to “live their best life”. Across all age groups, over half (51 per cent) of those surveyed believe they were put on the earth to be as happy as they can be, whilst 37 per cent believe that it...