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Friday, May 10, 2019

An Epidemic of Loneliness

“All the lonely people/ Where do they all come from?/ All the lonely people/ Where do they all belong?” —Eleanor Rigby, Lennon/McCartney, 1966

Perhaps there is no greater irony in modern day America than the reality that we have more ways of communicating than ever before even as millions of American are suffering from loneliness that has reached epidemic levels.

“Since the turn of the century, Americans have been dying from suicide, alcohol-related illnesses, and drug overdoses at a rate that has never before been seen,” reveals Francie Hart Broghammer, MD, chief psychiatry resident at UC Irvine Medical Center. “Princeton economists Anne Case and Angus Deaton have aptly named these tragedies ‘Deaths of Despair.’ In fact, suicide is now the second leading cause of death for American teenagers and the tenth leading cause of death for Americans, overall.”

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4 comments:

Anonymous said...

How could anyone possibly be lonely ? There are people everywhere you look.

Anonymous said...

Omg it's an epidemic! Aw go screw yourself.

Anonymous said...

Some people don't go out for various reasons. No family or friends. It's possible.

Anonymous said...

Technology has created loneliness. Instead of going to see your neighbor down the street. You text them. Instead of grocery shopping, you phone on your cell to Walmart and they deliver. You can buy a car without going to a dealer. Pull the plug on it all.