COVID-19 has made worse the already widely acknowledged epidemic of social isolation, and retirees are especially vulnerable.
So many of us have invested so much of our time, energy and identity into our jobs that when the time comes for us to stop working, we’re like a deer in the headlights.
In this TED Talk from 2017, public health data specialist and entrepreneur Will Wright gives us a useful way to differentiate between being alone (which can be good) and social isolation (which is definitely not good). He also offers us his solution to the loneliness epidemic.
Spending some time alone is different from loneliness. Being alone – when we choose to be – can help us to collect our thoughts. It gives us valuable respite from the tumult of our busy lives.
By contrast, loneliness is the mismatch between the level of social connection we want and the reality of our experience. Up to 40% of Americans report feeling lonely, double the number in the 1980s. One in five people in the US now lives alone.
Will says loneliness represents a fundamental challenge to our core humanity. We crave connection almost as much as food, shelter and sex, and coping strategies often exacerbate the problem.
He cites meta data research that indicates social isolation is as harmful as smoking 15 cigarettes a day and is implicated in a litany of diseases – diabetes, depression, even cancer.
What makes Will different from other public health researchers is his solution. Whereas it’s common advice to people suffering from loneliness to stay clear of social media, Will says we should embrace the ease and variety of connections that digital technology allows.
The Retire Better team can’t comment about the efficacy of his program or the veracity of his claims, there’s absolutely no doubt that the loneliness epidemic is real and that any solution that works is most welcome.
For us in the Retire Better community, we already know the effort we have to make to keep connected, and if part of our routine includes regular text messages to check up with family and friends, then let’s do it. C’est la vie!