There are companies to rent friends by the hour, like Rent-a-friend, founded in New Jersey by Scott Rosenbaum. Even before the coronavirus triggered a “social recession,” 3 in 5 American adults felt lonely.
If you feel lonely, your chances of suffering from coronary heart disease increase by 29%, those of suffering a stroke by 32% and those of developing clinical dementia by 64%. Loneliness, therefore, is a serious problem, and it is increasing in the modern world.
That is why a diagnosis as accurate as the one offered Noreena Hertz in his book The Age of Solitude: Regaining Human Bonds in a Divided World It is so necessary and convenient.
And the possible solutions
Thanks to Facebook and Instagram, many of us are still nominally in touch with our friends from school and colleagues from former jobs. But this is friendship 2.0, online social relationships, which are not as full relationships as those we have in the real world, 1.0.
In fact, in our daily lives, communities are shrinking. From 1985 to 2009, the average size of an American’s social network, defined by the number of confidants people feel they have, has decreased by more than a third. We may have hundreds of friends on Instagram, but there is growing evidence that those connections are not what provide us with the social balm we need, which is human contact.
But Herz’s book, thoroughly documented and told with a lot of freshness and doses of storytelling, not only offers the diagnosis, but also some solutions, as we can read in its synopsis:
The century of loneliness: Recovering human bonds in a divided world (Contexts)
Offering bold solutions ranging from compassionate artificial intelligence to innovative models for urban living and new ways to revitalize our neighborhoods and reconcile our differences, The Century of Solitude offers a hopeful and empowering insight into how to heal our fractured communities and restore connection. in our lives.
Noreena Hertz is a recognized thought leader, scholar and presenter, named by The Observer as “one of the most relevant thinkers in the world” and by Vogue as “one of the most inspiring women in the world.” his opinion pieces have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian and the Financial Times. She is currently a professor at University College London, where she holds an honorary professorship, so she knows what she is talking about.