An Epidemic of Loneliness

In 2023, then U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued an advisory entitled “Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation: The U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory on the Healing Effects of Social Connection and Community,” which identified the increasing trend of social isolation as a significant national problem.  The advisory corroborates the essential theme of BitterHarvest.info, that our society is hurdling down the path of growing and dangerous atomization.  While his advisory presents much empirical evidence in support of this thesis, it also confuses many symptoms and catalysts of this growing social isolation with causes and is silent about what I believe to be the root cause.   Moreover, the solutions Dr. Murthy proposes are almost entirely government programs.

The chief value of the advisory, in my opinion, is the empirical evidence that it presents to show the trend of growing social isolation (“atomization” in my parlance) within our society.  Here are some charts and statistics worthy of consideration:

• Approximately one-in-two adults in the United States reported experiencing loneliness in recent years, even before the COVID-19 pandemic.
• In 2018, only 16% of Americans reported that they felt very attached to their local community.
• For young people aged 15 to 24, the time spent in-person with friends dropped by nearly 70% over roughly two decades, from approximately 150 minutes per day in 2003 to 40 minutes per day in 2020.
• In 1960, single-person households accounted for 13% of U.S. households; by 2022, that number more than doubled to 29%.
• In 2020, only 47% of Americans belonged to a church, synagogue, or mosque, dropping below 50% for the first time in the history of the survey question and down from 70% in 1999.
• The mortality impact of being socially disconnected is equivalent to smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day.

Dr. Murthy formulated his proposed solutions to the problem as “six foundational pillars.” They are almost entirely recommendations for more government programs such as designing housing, transportation, and public spaces to promote social interaction, investing in libraries and parks, and accelerating research funding for the problem.

Disappointingly, Dr. Murthy does not address what I believe to be the root cause of this atomization or social isolation, that is, extreme individualism.  In fact, the word “individualism” does not appear even once in his 82-page report!  The solution will most certainly not be implemented from the top down, but rather from the bottom up.  Rebuilding family life, especially family life based on a shared Christian faith is in my opinion, the only solution that will bring us away from the brink.

Work Cited

Office of the Surgeon General. Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation: The U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory on the Healing Effects of Social Connection and Community. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2023.

https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/surgeon-general-social-connection-advisory.pdf

Some recent news articles regarding the epidemic of loneliness: