Loneliness Is The Silent Killer

WORLD

The Silent Killer

Things went downhill for Tomoki, a 29-year-old Japanese man, after he quit his job in 2015.

He went to a job center to find new work. He also attended a religious group to stay focused. But the group’s leader criticized him publicly for failing to locate employment. Eventually, Tomoki withdrew from the group and then from society in general, joining the ranks of the “hikikomori,” or modern-day hermits who remain in their houses, sometimes for years at a time.

“I blamed myself,” Tomoki, who asked to be identified by a pseudonym, said in an interview with the BBC. “I didn’t want to see anyone, I didn’t want to go outside.”

At first blush, hikikomori might seem unique to Japan, where birth rates sank to a record low recently – suggesting some kind of a lack of intimacy – and where a hyper-technological economy and strict culture of shame put enormous pressure on people to succeed.

But concerns about social isolation are being raised globally.

Last year, British Prime Minister Teresa May appointed a minister for loneliness after a government report found that many of her constituents were sad and isolated.

“For far too many people, loneliness is the sad reality of modern life,” May said at the time. She wanted to help “people who have no one to talk to or share their thoughts and experiences with.”

Recently, a British group launched Chatty Bus, a program that sends volunteers onto public transit to spark spontaneous conversations with folks, reported the Brighton & Hove Independent, a local newspaper. Londoners started a “loneliness café” to bring people together.

Researchers in South Korea and Hong Kong, as well as the US, France, Italy, Spain and elsewhere, have documented a spike in loneliness. Simon Fraser University found that 20 percent of Canadians experienced loneliness, especially people older than 80 who have lost a spouse, wrote the Canadian Jewish News.

The US Senate held hearings on the issue in 2017. Former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy has raised alarms about an epidemic of loneliness.

It’s no surprise that social media might be playing a role. University of Pittsburgh scientists found that positive experiences online afforded little sense of community while negative experiences hurt. Working too much doesn’t help either, several researchers noted in the Conversation.

The phenomenon has costs. Loneliness is as lethal as smoking 15 cigarettes a day, reported Inc. magazine.

Taking a page from Aldous Huxley, author of the dystopian novel “Brave New World,” American scientists are working on a pill to combat the problem, according to a Medium story reprinted in the Guardian.

Pharmaceuticals might be a solution. Saying hello to a stranger might work better.

W