USSurgeonGeneral
We were created to be social beings but a recent report by the USA surgean General reveals just how prevalent lonliness and socal disconnection can truly be. The main reason we created focaLOCAL was to give people in local communities an opportunity to virtually connect with others online with the ultimate intention of moving those online connections to face-t0-face offline relationships.
In the article below U.S. Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy said half of U.S. adults experience loneliness, which has consequences for mental and physical health, including a greater risk of depression, anxiety — and, perhaps more surprisingly, heart disease, stroke and dementia.
His advisory calls for a collective effort to “mend the social fabric of our nation,” including teaching children how to build healthy relationships; talking more to relatives, friends and co-workers; and spending less time online and on social media if it comes at the expense of in-person interactions.
Time spent with friends declined 20 hours a month between 2003 and 2020, according to research cited in the advisory, while time spent alone increased by 24 hours a month in that period. These trends probably intensified during the coronavirus pandemic as Americans were sequestered at home, experts say.
LONELINESS POSES PROFOUND PUBLIC HEALTH THREAT, SURGEON GENERAL SAYS
By Fenit Nirappil