A recent American Psychiatric Association (APA) poll found that 30 percent of American adults report experiencing loneliness at least one per week. In fact, in 2023, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy went so far as to call loneliness a “public health epidemic.” Despite the rapidity and universality of modern communication, people have become increasingly isolated.
In some cases—though certainly not all—it’s those very communication technologies that may be fueling the problem. Social media and other online interfaces simulate genuine human connection without giving the real substance. Internet socialization becomes an ultimately unsatisfying substitute for the real thing. Speaking with The Epoch Times, John Puls, a licensed psychotherapist and nationally recognized expert on mental health, put it this way:
