The new generations feel more alone than their parents
The arrival of the internet and other technologies have broken spatial barriers. Anyone can talk to another person in the antipodes and at any time hold a chat via video conference or send a photograph of their food. Social networks show long lists of "virtual friends"The perfect panorama so that nobody feels alone, especially for new generations that have been born in this digital environment.
However, the data reveal a different story. Younger people feel more alone than the generations of their parents. This is revealed in a new study conducted by the insurance company Cigna and where the vision of a total of 20,000 young adults between 18 and 20 years has been taken into account.
Alone at the time of interconnection
After collecting the opinions of these 20,000 participants about their feeling of loneliness and their use of social networks, the following conclusions were reached:
- Half of the participants reported that they feel alone (46%) or excluded (47%) assiduously.
- One in four participants never feel that there are people who really understand them.
- Two out of five participants sometimes or always feel that their relationships are not significant (43%) and that they are isolated from others (43%).
- One in five people report that they rarely feel close to others (20%) and only 18% feel that there are people they can talk to.
- Only about half of the participants have significant social interactions in person, such as a prolonged conversation with a friend or spending quality time with the family, on a daily basis.
- Adults between 18 and 22 years make up the loneliest generation and claims to be in worse health than previous generations.
Social networks and friends
Do not confuse contacts in social networks with real friends, as indicated in the 38 Congress of the Federation of Association of Parents of Students of the Colleges of Promotion of Teaching Centers. A meeting where something wanted to be made clear to the parents: "800 contacts are not 800 friends". A notice related to the dependence of these platforms to maintain interpersonal relationships.
When speaking through social networks, young people have the feeling of being talking to a real friend. A false sense of closeness that does not fit what is really a friendship. This generates a confusion that does not fit the truth because they can not have the same treatment as if they stayed with them in their day to day.
This dependence causes young people to end up depending on social networks to satisfy their need for interpersonal relationships. But as reflected in the aforementioned study few members of the generations of 18 and 20 years They recognize having significant social interactions.
Damián Montero
