Loneliness After Covid-19
Joyful and festive sun-kissed parties, birthdays oh and also wedding celebrations! Prosecco picnics, gosh! Summer has a lot to offer. But sometimes social media scrolls make it seem like sometimes we're not invited. It's been over three years since the pandemic, and it brought about a lot of loneliness. While they enjoyed the with family and friends, others spent time alone.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic has brought about social media memes and online videos, causing everyone to slum back and enjoy induced loneliness, and the shocking is that society has made that okay and perfectly acceptable! Has this become normalised??
It became undeniable that everyone was laughing off a severe mental health crisis. You see it on the news.. suicide is a terrifying word and brings chills to me.. but a lot has happened during COVID-19, and we all saw some of the consequences. Research from the ONS found that 1 million people ages 16 - 29 experience chronic loneliness, while a significant poll suggests 96% of people have dealt with loneliness at some point. While another survey says that 74% feel FOMO more over the summer months, with 66% find it hard to put themselves in social situations to create friendships or love interests.
Social media is smoking mirrors when you scroll down on your Instagram pages, where everyone has this perfect life or social circle. Were, in fact, it's all a big lie!! but this has everlasting damage to those who look at such ideals and feel lonely. Yes, I blame social media for bringing about these fake materialistic ideals that are not realistic.
Loneliness has made a significant amount of youths and young adults feel incredibly unloved or liked, or even invaluable. Despite how isolating these feelings can be, some data shows that we're not alone in our loneliness! for others, it's the lack of outdoor activities being restricted, and of course, others, it is seasonal affective disorder. A lot of young people feel lonely in the summer months because they feel everyone else is out having fun while they lack the social connections for those experiences.
I find that heartbreaking!
If you scroll down on your Instagram, we see many more people with a lasting impact that have had mental issues. Call it depression or eating disorders, anxiety and, in extreme cases, suicide. Poor mental health can be isolating. This is why talking about it is so important. Despite the UK having greater knowledge of a vast mental health problem, those conversations aren't always easy and slows down the process of moving forward.
Age is a weird time for many young people in their mid-twenties; that pressure can be isolating and make you question if you're meant to be where you are or if you should be doing more. We all know loneliness doesn't only cure when you're alone; it can also be in the presence of many social relationships. It leaves some people feeling marginalised. A lot of women said social media intensifies all things feelings.
Instagram does a wonderful job of connecting People with an abundance of new places, new experiences and new foods! (I won’t lie; I melt over the food pages.)
But it's easy to see these posts yet have nobody to do these things with.
There are lots of wonderful campaigns and organisations to end loneliness! In fact, there is one called Campaign To End Loneliness, or if you decide you want to call health professionals, it can be life-saving!