It is hard to perceive our loneliness, but it can explode just like all other negative emotions (disappointment, self-doubt, depression, anger, frustration, and so on) and cause consequences. In high school, I once researched the factors that affect adults’ suicide rates. The result shocked me: people who live alone have a higher suicide rate than people who live in poor areas. I wondered if income level impacts their suicide rate, yet in fact, people who live alone have much higher disposable income than people who live in cheap apartments with their whole family do. Therefore, loneliness is more harmful than many expected. This research, coming into my mind after two years when I take a university sociology course, offers me a glimpse into the issue of loneliness.
Is building a relationship with someone more difficult now? I say yes and no. In many circumstances, this statement is true because we live such a busy life, the emails crowding in our mailbox, the phone occupying more than a third of our day. We have much less time to meet new people than before, and we sit in front of our desks for longer and longer. However, on the other hand, are these things inevitable? I do not think so. In the last two weeks, I challenged myself by only using my phone for 40 minutes every day. I was anxious in the first few days, worrying about if I would miss important messages, but at the end of the day I turned on my phone, I saw only 12 messages. After replying to them, I turned off my phone and went to bed. Over the past two weeks, I extracted more than 60 hours from my study time and leisure time by being more efficient. Seeing a lot of free time, I became more relaxed than before. We do have time to make friends and break the loneliness bubble. We are not as busy as we assume.
