We Are Not Lonely During Social Distancing After All
For months we’ve been reading warnings that the coronavirus pandemic could make us lonely. But now researchers have good news: People are more resilient than we thought. A new study published in American Psychologist has found that social distancing has not led to more loneliness.
Social distancing has not made us lonely.
For the nationwide study by Florida State University College of Medicine, researchers surveyed more than 2,000 people before and during stay-at-home orders. This was part of a larger study on how we are reacting psychologically to the Covid-19. But because feeling lonely in particular is a known health risk, leading to higher rates of disease or death, the researchers felt it deserved attention.
"There has been a lot of worry that loneliness would increase dramatically because of the social distancing guidelines and restrictions," said lead author Martina Luchetti, an assistant professor at the College of Medicine in a press release. "Contrary to this fear, we found that overall loneliness did not increase. Instead, people felt more supported by others than before the pandemic.”