Is technology making us a lonely nation?
A major study conducted by the Mental Health Foundation has uncovered figures suggesting that more than one in ten Brit’s feel lonely “often”, as more and more of us chose to live alone, work long hours and choose to communicate using technology rather than in person.
Though the internet has revolutionised the way we communicate with one another enabling us to communicate and find people with ease, many experts are now arguing that certain sites such as Myspace, Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites are resulting in the rapid decline of our social skills and ability to read body language.
The survey which was undertaken by the Mental Health Foundation involved more than 2,200 adults of varying ages and concluded that thought loneliness affects people of all ages, women are more likely to report feelings of isolation than men.
The report says that it is too early to determine whether or not technology is having a detrimental affect on our ability to relate to each other but what we do already know is that technology can not be considered a substitute for human interaction and it is certainly no cure for loneliness.
An additional poll for the charity found that one in three of us would like to move closer to our families in order to spend more time with them and one in five of us have admitted to using the internet too much to communicating with friends and family when we should be seeing them in person.
Every day most Britain’s spend at least 50 minutes on the internet, detracting from the valuable time we could be using to have real social encounters. Technology will never be able to act as a substitute for the physical contact which benefits our well being.
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