Paywall removed: https://archive.is/eT19u
Americans are afflicted by an “epidemic of loneliness,” according to the surgeon general and dozens of researchers. The phrase conjures a nation of friendless hermits who have no one to invite to their birthday parties. But according to a pair of new surveys, American loneliness is more complex than that. The typical American, it seems, texts a bunch of people “we should get together!” before watching TikTok alone on the couch and then passing out. That is, Americans have friends. We just never really see them.
I wouldn’t mind another friend or two, but I’m doing pretty well with the handful of high quality friends I’ve got. Feeling lucky, even.