Loneliness is / absolutely an epidemic / in our society, // but it's been growing for / decades.// Loneliness / is the sense that "I am less connected to other people than / I want to be." // It's a very subjective experience /, and that / makes it different too / from isolation //. So / I can deliberately isolate myself / and feel great about that, / but / only you can tell if you're lonely.// And the fact / is you can be lonely in a crowd. / You can be lonely / in a marriage. / You can also be / very content / and not lonely / alone / on a mountaintop.// Starting in the 1950s / and going all the way through / to today /, we know that people have been/ less and less invested in other people. / In some studies, / as many as 60% / of people / will say / that they feel lonely much of the time. / And the lowest estimates are 30-40% of people/ say they feel lonely.// Young adults / aged 16 to 24 / are the loneliest age group, / and then again, / among / older adults,/ there is an increase / in loneliness,/ particularly as people lose friends, / lose partners. But loneliness is pervasive / across the world,/ across all age groups,/ all income groups,/ all demographics. // There are so many factors / that are responsible / for this loneliness epidemic. // They did not just begin with the digital revolution.// Loneliness was on the rise, / as we know, / at least from the 1950s / in part / because of social dislocation / we've become a much more mobile society / where / the networks of family / and friends / get disrupted / as people move for jobs / and other kinds of / opportunities / like education.// All of that is good / on the one hand, / but then it tears us away from the fabric / of belonging / that many of us / are born into / and spend much / of our lives creating.// And there is the / world of screens. / So when television / came into the American home, / there was a decline / in investing in our communities.// People went out less /, they joined clubs / less often. // They went to houses of worship / less often./ They invited people over / less often.//