Is Loneliness the New Smoking?

Is Loneliness the New Smoking?
Human beings need social connection the way we need sunshine and nutritious food. We might survive if deprived, but we won't be well. Aleshyn_Andrei/Shutterstock
Jennifer Margulis
Updated:
When Canadian pop icon Justin Bieber released his song “Lonely” in October of 2020, the 28-year-old star sang about the crushing loneliness he felt after becoming so famous at such an early age. Bieber’s song quickly topped the charts in Canada, as well as in countries as diverse as Hungary, Malaysia, and Norway.
I’m not in the right age demographic to be a Justin Bieber fan, but I found myself listening to his deeply heartfelt song over and over again. Whatever your opinion of pop music and R&B, so many of us in the modern world—young and old—have been feeling such deep loneliness, especially in the past two years.
Jennifer Margulis
Jennifer Margulis
Author
Jennifer Margulis, Ph.D., is an award-winning journalist and author of “Your Baby, Your Way: Taking Charge of Your Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Parenting Decisions for a Happier, Healthier Family.” A Fulbright awardee and mother of four, she has worked on a child survival campaign in West Africa, advocated for an end to child slavery in Pakistan on prime-time TV in France, and taught post-colonial literature to nontraditional students in inner-city Atlanta. Learn more about her at JenniferMargulis.net
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