Exeter, Manchester, and Brunel universities have carried out a study on the effects of culture, age, and gender on loneliness. 

This study involved 46,054 participants aged 16 to 99, who come from 237 countries, islands, and territories. 

it is observed that those who are young, male, and living in an “individualistic” country could be more exposed to loneliness.

  
Photo Source: NBC

The findings revealed that there was a decrease in loneliness as people age.

In other words, younger people are more lonely than the middle-aged, and the middle-aged are more lonely than older people. This may be because of the younger people have different expectations of social connections from older people.

On the other hand, men also reported more loneliness than women. 

Photo Source: World Economic Forum

Moreover, those living in “individualistic” societies are expected to be independent and they also recorded more loneliness, compared to those living in a “collectivist” society.

Based on their findings, a young man living in an individualistic society could suspect to feel more lonely than an older woman living in a collectivist society.

In short, this study showed that 

it is true that technology could not help the younger people to alleviate loneliness although they have more access to technologies to reach social relationships than elderly people. Technologies have become a replacement for the social relationships of young people instead of an extension of those relationships.

Source: The Star

Cover Photo: BBC | The Independent