Text Or Talk: Is Technology Making You Lonely?

As social media reshapes how we connect, we have to rethink what we need to feel fulfilled in our relationships, and realise that no amount of tweets, texts or Facebook status updates can provide it.

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While social networking is a great tool, there’s a profound difference between an online social network and a real one. Despite the fact there will always be someone, somewhere awake to “like” our latest status update – however witty or banal it may be – when it comes to friends, quantity doesn’t equal quality.

Recent studies have found that despite being more connected than ever, more people feel more alone than ever. Surprisingly, those who report feeling most alone, are those you’d expect it from least: young people under 35 who are the most prolific social networkers of all. Another recent study found that 48% of respondents only had one confidant compared to a similar study 25 years ago when people said they had about three people they could confide in. So as we have built expansive social networks online, the depth of our networks offline has decreased. So it seems that because technology makes it easier to stay in touch while keeping distance, more and more people find themselves feeling distant and never touching. Or at least not enough to avoid us feeling increasingly alone.