We're back with a bonus episode of "All the Lonely People," a series diving deep into how loneliness shows up in our lives. This week: how do we get out of loneliness? Brittany hears from listeners about what worked for them. Then, we head over to our friends at NPR's Life Kit to get even more practical steps for connection: NPR health correspondent Allison Aubrey speaks with Dr. Jeremy Nobel about his book, Project UnLonely: Healing Our Crisis Of Disconnection, and they came up with concrete tips for how to be less lonely. Support public media and receive ad-free listening & bonus content. Join NPR+ today.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
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Hello, hello. I'm Brittany Luce, and you're listening to It's Been a Minute from NPR, a show about what's going on in culture and why it doesn't happen by accident. Do you relate? Well, you may be lonely, but you're not alone. One third of Americans report feeling lonely at least once a week. And 16% of Americans report feeling lonely all or most of the time.
A lot of attention is being paid to loneliness right now. After the former American Surgeon General declared a loneliness epidemic, news organizations from The New York Times to The Atlantic to NPR jumped to cover it. And it's hard to say definitively if loneliness has gotten worse. But what we do know is that a significant amount of people are feeling it.
And I know a lot of you have been feeling lonely too. That's because so many of you wrote to me sharing your own stories about loneliness and how you got out of it. It was really incredible how many of you responded. It really showed, I guess, how not alone we all are in our loneliness and that there's no one way to reconnect with people. Here's what just a few of you said.
I started college in 2020, so during the pandemic, and that was definitely a very lonely time to be in what is supposed to be such a social place. And I decided that I needed to do something to stop from being so miserable. I decided to join a sorority, and I was never the type of person to join a sorority. Did it end up helping my loneliness? Yeah, I would definitely say so.
To beat loneliness is to feel community and belonging.
I'm a 63-year-old lonely man. It's gotten much better. I've found gym classes and dance classes and movement classes, meeting people and going for walks with or without the dog.
Hi, my name is Lisa. I'm a middle-aged divorced woman, and I was really lonely. When I decided I wanted to make a change, I didn't even really know where to start. So I actually got into local live music. I didn't have anyone to go with, you know, because that's kind of what happens when you're lonely. So I started going to these things alone.
And what I found is when you go enough times, you start seeing the same people. And then you start saying hi to those people because you see them a lot. And then next thing you know, you have friends.
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