Before Covid-19 became an international pandemic, loneliness was already considered an epidemic in America and other parts of the world. Now people all over the world have been asked to keep to their homes for more than three months now, and it risks those struggling with loneliness going into a severe depression. More
Before the coronavirus pandemic began, Michael Munson’s 3-year-old son saw a group of close friends at his preschool at least a few times a week. When he wasn’t in school, he and his 1-year-old sister often played with other kids at the park. But ever since much of the world More
Podcast interview with APS Member Julianne Holt-Lunstad. There’s a cost to staying home, too. Julianne Holt-Lunstad, a neuroscientist and social psychologist at Brigham Young University, explains the toll that social isolation can take. … Listen to full podcast at the link below. More
The need for connection– to form and maintain at least a minimal number of positive, stable, intimate relationships– is a fundamental need that affects our whole being, permeating our entire suite of emotions, thoughts, and behaviors. While voluntary solitude can be great fodder for creativity, and being alone doesn’t necessarily indicate loneliness More
As an urban anthropologist, Katrina Johnston-Zimmerman felt a duty to record her experiences in lockdown. After all, this was a once-in-a-century global pandemic. And so, for the past 49 nights or so, she has noted her mood at the end of the day. Mostly, her moods have been fairly positive. More
There was a time in the not-too-distant past when it wasn’t widely understood that germs could pass from person to person.Before the late 1800s, habits likesharing cups with strangers and spitting in public even amidst crowds weren’t considered unsanitary. Then a tuberculosis outbreak came, and our behavior changed — in More
