Everyone’s talking about being ‘lonely.’ But what does that really mean?
Philosophy professor organizes conference to help tackle the 'loneliness epidemic'
The COVID-19 pandemic is the crux of one of the greatest public health crises of our time, with the physical and mental isolation described as a “loneliness epidemic.” But for some people, physical recovery from the coronavirus could be easier than dealing with the psychological aftermath. One problem that arises for the design of useful remedial measures, according to Bentley Philosophy Professor Axel Seemann, is the absence of a detailed understanding of what loneliness is.
“Loneliness is being discussed all over the media, even more so since the pandemic, with a lot of the focus on social isolation and the lack of contact withother people,” Seemann says. “The challenge is that it's not easy to define the actual experience of loneliness as its context and causes vary from one person to the next.”
The absence of people, for example, could cause loneliness but also signify solitude, which is a positive experience. “My work focuses on the social mind and one can understand loneliness as the experience of a breakdown in social relations,” Seemann says. “For someone to be able to feel lonely there has to be some psychological norm of how one’s social life should be, so that one is able to experience one’s life as lacking in meaningful connections to others.”
To create conversations that might draw out those kinds of distinctions, Seemann organized a virtual conference, “Loneliness: A Discussion in Philosophy and Psychology.” Over four days, nearly 200 participants from more than a dozen countries came together to share their research. A central question: “Do all experiences of loneliness share some essential features or is loneliness a loose umbrella term that captures a range of different experiences?”
Finding answers is crucial for remedial measures like therapy and social work. The concepts discussed helped illustrate the complexity of the issue and the various perspectives shared.
Conference Highlights
- Andrée-Anne Cormier (York University) argued that governments have an obligation to adopt laws and policies that help citizens overcome and avoid chronic loneliness. (One possibility she mentioned: Classes in "relationship education" for children and adolescents.)
- Mark James and Jamila Rodrigues (Okinawa Institute of Technology) talked about the importance of hugging and physical touch.
- Louise Richardson (University of York) and Ulla Schmid (Universität Basel) explored loneliness as it relates to specific life experiences such as grief/loss and alcohol addiction.
- Thomas Spiegel (Universität Potsdam) talked about the technology paradox: Social media ostensibly improves our connections with others, but the reality is that these platforms are driving us further apart.
Bentley's Philosophy department partnered with the university’s Hoffman Center for Business Ethics to organize the conference, with a goal of understanding loneliness and how it should be conceptualized. Doing this, Seemann says, is necessary to devise programs to alleviate loneliness.
A Cigna survey, Loneliness and the Workplace, found that 58 percent of respondents say they always or sometimes feel like no one knows them well. More than half say they feel left out. Others report feeling that their relationships with others are not meaningful, and 61 percent always/sometimes feel their interests and ideas are not shared by those around them. Forbes reported that loneliness is “crippling the workplace,” increasing the number of sick days employees take and lowering performance.
“Loneliness is an experience that individual people have, but it arises not only in personal but also in organizational contexts,” Seemann says. “Bringing together work on the psychological and organizational aspects of loneliness research is an extremely promising area for future work.”