By Eve Herold – January 31, 2024 – Persuasion –
A growing industry is offering artificial companionship. It’s a hollow promise.
It’s ironic that in a world of over eight billion people, loneliness is epidemic. In the United States alone, an astonishing 47 percent of people “often feel alone, left out and lacking meaningful connection with others.” 27 percent of Americans rarely or never feel that they have someone in their life who truly understands them. 43 percent sometimes or always believe that their existing relationships are not meaningful and don’t relieve their feelings of loneliness, and only 53 percent report that they have daily meaningful social interactions. Contrary to popular belief, young people ages eighteen through twenty-two are the loneliest of all.