A survey for the BBC called the Loneliness Experiment found 40% of this youngest age group reported feeling alone often or very often, whereas among the over 75s this was 27%.
Only a third of those asked believed that loneliness was about being on your own, suggesting the answer to solving loneliness is not as simple as being around more people or having more friends.
On Premier’s News Hour, Dr Lucie Shuker, Head of Research at the Christian organisation Youthscape explained why a typically sociable generation might be feeling so isolated:
“There’s something to do with the stage of life that you’re at. So, when you are a young person, your peer group is really important and your perception of yourself, which is informed by how you think you are viewed.”
She argued that it is less a generational divide, more a phase everyone goes through: “So, you’re actually quite sensitise to feeling rejected, feeling left out, feeling alone, feeling misunderstood, because you are at a time of your life where you are looking for affirmation and belonging – in particular from your peer group – maybe in a way that that need lessens as we get older.”
Dr Shuker explained how Youthscape are trying to teach teenagers ways out of feeling alone: “Loneliness is something that effects us all…you’re not alone if you feel alone sometimes.
“Actually, it’s a really normal feeling, but if it’s…
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