Despite Warnings, Social Distancing Does Not Make Us Lonely

For months we’ve been reading warnings that the coronavirus pandemic could make us lonely. But now researchers have good news: people are more resilient than we thought. A new study published in American Psychologist has found that social distancing has not led to more loneliness.

For the nationwide study by Florida State University College of Medicine, researchers surveyed more than 2,000 people before and during stay-at-home orders. This was part of a larger study on how we are reacting psychologically to the Covid-19. But because feeling lonely in particular is a known health risk, leading to a higher rates of disease or death, the researchers felt it deserved attention.

“There has been a lot of worry that loneliness would increase dramatically because of the social distancing guidelines and restrictions,” said lead author Martina Luchetti, an assistant professor at the College of Medicine in a press release. “Contrary to this fear, we found that overall loneliness did not increase. Instead, people felt more supported by others than before the pandemic.”

That’s surprising at first, but it aligns with some other recent research on how people can meet their social needs even without other people. And virtual eye contact can also give people a genuine sense of connection. But Luchetti felt it may have something to do with a sense of community. “Even while physically isolated, the feeling of increased social support and of being in this together may help limit increases in loneliness,” she said.

Participants reported how lonely they felt.

Study participants were recruited from all over America and were adults between the ages of 18 and 98. The first survey was done in early February, before the U.S. was widely considering the coronavirus to be a threat. But once the pandemic arrived, the researchers ran a survey in mid-March during the period of 15-days of social distancing announced by the White House. Then, they ran a second survey in late April, after people had been home for a while and as guidelines were set to expire.

Remarkably, older adults reported less loneliness than younger ones, although they did feel lonely temporarily at the start of stay-at-home. This held true for individuals who lived alone or had a chronic health condition. Perhaps that’s because they already felt lonelier than most people do. But it’s still good news that social distancing did not make it worse.

Prior to the pandemic surveys had found that that 35% of adults 45 and older report and 43% of those over 60 report feeling lonely. Other research has shown that younger adults are actually lonelier than the older age group.

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