Loneliness: Is It Inevitable In A Modern World?

Young or old, rich or poor, many of us will experience a longing for social contact at some point in our lives. But loneliness doesn’t have to be inevitable

- Dr Dean Burnett

It may seem an obvious outcome of a pandemic where social contact is discouraged, even made illegal, but concerns about rising levels of loneliness were common before the coronavirus and will likely persist for the foreseeable future. Humans are an incredibly social species. It’s one of the reasons we have such powerful brains and advanced intelligence – to better keep track of and maintain numerous relationships. Our social interactions are a huge factor in how we think, act and see ourselves, because much of our brains are dedicated to social cognition. Completely depriving someone of human contact is a recognised form of torture.

Human wellbeing depends on interpersonal interactions and relationships. It’s no wonder that prolonged loneliness is associated with many serious health consequences, such as an increased risk of depression, anxiety, dementia, stroke and heart disease, so an epidemic of it should be taken very seriously.

Is it inevitable, though? Are humans destined to experience loneliness, no matter what we do? That may seem to be the case when you look at it from a certain angle. While we’re undeniably social, humans also evolved in a tribal setting, where a few dozen individuals stuck together for their entire (short) lives. This has undoubtedly shaped how we work and what we’ve become. In the grand scheme of things, until relatively recently, in the developed world at least, the average human lived an existence that didn’t much deviate from this. We typically lived, worked and raised families as part of tight communities, where everyone knew everyone else and there was always someone around.