Loneliness

We've all felt it.

That deep sadness... that feeling that one has no friends... no company.

Yet, people rarely talk about being lonely. Loneliness isn't necessarily solitude. It's a longing... we dare not speak of.

Perhaps we should. Because in this Age of Connectivity, we may be lonelier than ever before.

Image | Duncan McCue

Caption: Host of Cross Country Checkup, Duncan McCue. (Kevin Van Paassen)

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Statistics Canada reports that 1.4 million seniors say they're lonely. But it's not only the elderly. Young people too—teens and twenty-somethings—are experiencing epidemic levels of loneliness.

Loneliness isn't only making us sad. It's fast becoming a public health crisis in the Western world.

Lonely people are more likely to get sick. Chronic loneliness is as harmful to your health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. Loneliness is even more damaging to your body than obesity and diabetes and has been linked to high blood pressure, dementia and premature death.

What do you think is at the root of loneliness? In some, it's linked to anxiety and depression. But more Canadians than ever live alone and a quarter of them say they're lonely. Could we do a better job of designing public spaces? Is social media making us more connected—or less?

On Jan. 17, Britain named a Minister of Loneliness to tackle the problem. In Canada, Manitoba has a minister responsible for ensuring that seniors stay engaged socially, but there's currently no national strategy to help those who feel lonely. Do you think loneliness is a problem governments can resolve? How do we deal with the fact that people don't connect with their elderly relatives?