The Covid 19 pandemic will lead to a loneliness pandemic
As Ireland responds to the Covid 19 crisis, the policy responses and media narrative has focused on families, older people and the economy. But another vulnerable group has been mostly ignored: people who live alone.
As I write, 2.5 billion people around the world have been ordered to stay at home. In times of crisis, societies tend to fall back on traditional structures. Even at the best of times, the traditional nuclear family remains the cornerstone of Irish society. Government restrictions enforce conservative values, centring biological, nuclear families. Almost no attention has been paid to those of us who’ve built lives outside those paradigms.
There are thousands of us; the LGBT folks for whom family isn’t a happy or safe space, those struggling with addiction, those who grew up in abusive homes, those whose immediate family members have died, and those who’ve simply chosen another path in life.
I don’t mean to imply that paying attention to and supporting families and at risk groups like older people is wrong. Of course we should prioritise those most at risk, especially in the first days and weeks of the crisis. But it’s not either/or. We can also make space for people who live in Ireland, but don’t occupy a traditional family structure. They too have unique needs in a pandemic. It’s a significant cohort of people too. According to the CSO, about 400,000 people live alone in Ireland and 60% of them are under the age of 65.
Loneliness and social isolation are not just a sad inconvenience. They are serious medical problems with potentially dire consequences. Loneliness is more dangerous than obesity and can be as damaging to health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. Prolonged isolation has an enormous physical toll on the body, impacting your brain’s circuitry, triggering high blood pressure and increasing the production of stress hormones. Ironically, chronic social isolation makes you more vulnerable to getting sick.
Loneliness is commonly understood as impacting mostly older people, though the evidence paints a different picture. The UK’s Office for National Statistics found that young adults are more likely to feel lonely than older age groups. 40% of younger people feel lonely, compared with 27% of over 75s. Almost 10% of people aged 16 to 24 are "always or often" lonely. This was more than three times higher than people aged 65 and over. In response, the UK government appointed a minister for loneliness. Listening to the anonymous voicemails left by lonely young people across the UK provides a small glimpse into the front lines of the loneliness epidemic.
Loneliness is also linked to a lack of permanence or sense of belonging, which renters often feel. If your living situation is impermanent or insecure, you’re less likely to put down roots in a local community. Carers, people with disabilities and the unemployed are also more vulnerable to loneliness.
Enforced social isolation is worsening a pre-existing problem.
Human beings are wired for connection. At our most primal level, we seek community when crisis strikes. Forcing people to isolate themselves, while absolutely necessary from a public health perspective, will have far reaching consequences for our collective physical and mental health. There’s a reason isolation is used as a torture technique; spending concentrated time alone over weeks and months has a unique ability to unspool a person’s psyche, to make problems that seemed managable balloon out of proportion.
I live alone and have been managing this period of enforced isolation pretty well. But I’m still lonely. It’s been more than 6 weeks since I spent my work day in a room with other humans and more than a month since my last hug. I can’t even remember the last human interaction I had, aside from a nod on my morning walk or thanking the cashier in the supermarket.
I have a strong skill set for taking care of myself (at least at the moment!) but individual responsibility can only do so much. People who live outside traditional family structures are facing a unique set of challenges as we grapple with this crisis. Leaders in public health, government and media should pay attention to these issues too.
Covid 19 is a lonely disease. Globally many of the people who’ve died of Covid 19, died alone. In their final moments, patients are desperate for air, gasping for breath and therefore extremely contagious.
Loneliness is not contagious, but it remains a taboo. The Economist described it as the “leprosy of the 21st century, eating away at its victims and repelling those who encounter it”. Collectively, we are working to overcome the coronavirus pandemic. A similar effort will be required to tackle loneliness.
