Experimental History There is no epidemic of loneliness, but there is an epidemic of scurvy
Sep 15, 2026
Are we truly lonelier, or simply spending more time alone? This discussion untangles misleading loneliness statistics, explores the difference between isolation and solitude, and draws a surprising parallel with scurvy. It examines how modern life can weaken our social instincts, then considers what a healthier social diet might look like through in-person connections, broader relationships, and group involvement.
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How Loneliness Trends Get Invented
- Loneliness claims often manufacture trends from one present-day survey or confuse age differences with generational change.
- Comparing students across decades showed slightly declining loneliness, while evidence for recent increases remains mixed and small.
More Alone Without Feeling Lonelier
- People spend substantially more time alone even though reported loneliness has not clearly increased.
- Reduced contact still carries serious risks, including depression, cardiovascular disease, dementia, illness, and earlier death.
What Five Hundred Days Alone Did
- Extreme isolation can destabilize perception, as a Spanish woman alone in a cave for 500 days hallucinated, flirted with cameras, and distrusted her equipment.
- Adam compares the mind to slime that needs other people’s pressure to retain shape.