In 2018, Cigna Healthcare conducted an online survey of 20,000 U.S. adults using the UCLA Loneliness Scale. They found that most Americans were lonely. Nearly half reported “sometimes or always feeling alone” and only half reported having meaningful in-person social interactions on a daily basis. In 2019, Cigna conducted a follow-up report surveying 10,000 U.S. adults to explore the impact of loneliness. They found that 61 percent of those surveyed reported feeling lonely, a jump from the 54 percent in 2018. Moreover, nearly a quarter of them characterized their mental health as fair or poor. Cigna data suggest a large portion of U.S. adults lack meaningful social connection. In fact, the level of loneliness reported in the 2018 Cigna study was characterized as “epidemic.”

Loneliness and social isolation do not always go hand-in-hand. People who do not engage in social interactions with others are not necessarily lonely. They may simply prefer to have little social contact. There are also people who have many social interactions and still feel lonely. Recognizing how each person is affected by these behaviors is important in addressing any interventions for those who are feeling negatively impacted.

Social isolation and loneliness are not confined to the elderly who are often the focus of research on this topic. The Cigna study in 2018 described Gen Z, those 18- to 22-year-olds, as having the highest loneliness scores, while those ages 72 years and older were the least lonely. As before in the 2019 survey, it was younger people who were lonelier than older folks: 79 percent of Gen Z and 71 percent of millennials versus 50 percent of boomers.

One explanation may be that youth are particularly vulnerable because they are in a state of development—physically, emotionally, and cognitively. They are being challenged to deal with issues regarding self-esteem that can affect how they relate to others. If they lack self-confidence or are........

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