chibamSenior Contributor
One Step Forward, Two Steps Back
So, as many of you would know, about a year ago, there was a major research project in to loneliness, and it released a report that was pretty good. Step 1 in the development of a system to solve the problem, you would think.
Then today, I get a notification about an article (https://thiswayup.org.au/the-relationship-between-social-anxiety-and-loneliness/) that supposedly drew upon this loneliness report for it's conclusions... except it so obviously didn't.
The article has the gall to begin with a quote from the report:
“Loneliness is hard and hidden, yet common. It’s a social problem, not an individual one of being alone.”
And then it goes on and on to talk about loneliness as if it's just a problem in the head of the sufferer, and something that the sufferer has to remedy all by themselves by altering their thoughts, feelings and behaviors into something more 'normal'.
The hard-earned research is being ignored. Worse, it's being wildly misrepresented. It's existance is being acknowledged, but it's actual contents is being ignored.
Why do we even bother?
