Humans are not meant to be alone. Since the coronavirus epidemic, social Isolation has been experienced around the world and has grown into one of the most harmful risks to human health. Extensive isolation has separated families and close friends, jeopardizing mental as well as physical well being. COVID and its cruel impact on isolation is not the sole culprit of loneliness but exacerbated an already serious danger: Loneliness has been at epidemic levels for years. It is a health risk to society. It is a health risk to space as well. We are suffering from a health crisis of loneliness that cannot be ignored.
The absence of feeling chronically unconnected to others has been a growing problem. Recent UCLA scales on loneliness show that about half of US adults 18 years old and over reported being lonely — and this survey was before the pandemic. Often thought of as a condition of the elderly, the data show otherwise: It is the young, teenagers and our youngest adults 18-22 years old, who are the loneliest. Cigna Newsroom | New Cigna Study Reveals Loneliness at Epidemic Levels in America Perhaps we did not know because loneliness is often hidden.
Loneliness is a painful personal feeling that can be disguised. This is because it has a social stigma of shame that makes us want to hide the truth of our feelings from others on the outside so they don’t think we have something “wrong” with us on the inside. What’s more, loneliness can become an emotional spiral turning the fear of reaching out into a self-perpetuating condition resulting in a self-esteem crisis. If having feelings of loneliness is something seen as unacceptable to admit, no one wins: we cloak true feelings with appearances and behaviors to make it seem like we’re functioning: showing up for school or work, smiling, or saying that we’re fine when asked–though we’re not. Being tough is not the answer or only a temporary distraction. Like a funhouse of mirrors, others may be fooled that we do not need help, while they too may need it to mollify their own feelings of desperation. Loneliness will not go away by pretending it’s not there.
How many times have you asked your parents or your children how they’re doing only to hear that all is well but a small tone or pause tells you they’re not? You want to do something, but what? Another day or week passes and connectedness grows thinner. Our society is suffering from a health crisis that cannot be ignored.
Loneliness is more than a feeling. Whether you admit to the pain of loneliness or deny it, it’s a killer nonetheless. If you feel isolated your health is at risk. Studies examined a broad range of risk factors responsible for health effects showed that weak social connections play a key role and contribute to heart disease, obesity, alcoholism, productivity loss, interpersonal conflicts, and premature death. Loneliness is personal with an impact that is societal.
In summary, there is ample evidence that social isolation, a personal and social problem, damages our spirit, our economy, and our lifespan. The dangers of feeling separated and unconnected cannot be ignored. Without each other we do not live well, or even survive. There is an antidote: social connectedness of essential content requiring only minutes of time each day.
Social connectedness provides real and critical armor that can save our lives, says U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, MD, in his book: Together–The Human Power of Human Connection in a Sometimes Lonely World. Social connectedness, he says, provides support that rescues us from risks of isolation by providing a sense of belonging, compassion, respect, intimacy, trust, empathy, and reciprocity — essential qualities to feel togetherness. His prescription is to connect with someone vital to you for just 12 minutes per day and create something that is focussed, fun, and meaningful.
This problem of feeling separated can happen to any of us whether earthbound or spacebound. How far away is far enough to feel separated? Upon returning to the Moon by 2024, we may send this image:
NASA’s Artemis Base Camp on the Moon
Any distance between us can be far enough: across town, across the country, or on the Moon. It’s not the actual distance that matters. You can feel alone in a crowded room or alone by yourself. Distance is measured differently by each of us.
How about time? How much time does it take to feel isolated? A day? A week? Time’s passage is measured by minutes, but moments are measured by the heart. Just as a timepiece can compute time, only feelings can certify how precious time is.
Over the past several years I have researched social isolation in space and the need for astronauts to have a new way to stay in contact with close family and friends when on
long-duration space flights. Isolation is one of the five key behavioral health risk astronauts will face: Hazards of Human Spaceflight | Hazard 2: Isolation & Confinement
My research projects have led to a new, innovative concept that could make a difference to astronaut isolation. This concept, now in development, demonstrates how an intelligent social agent could make a difference in increasing the feeling of closeness to close family and friends when separated by distance. It is a countermeasure that may contribute to NASA’s search for workable countermeasures to support space health. Even more, this intelligent agent could be designed to take into account time latencies such as time zone differences or time lags due to great distances such as between earth and the Moon or Mars. In other words social isolation, which poses dangers to astronaut health when off planet, can be allayed with this new countermeasure.
From the research a startup company called Kinoo, Inc. was launched. Kinoo connects you to someone who is vital with creative exchanges that are focussed, fun, and meaningful for about 12 minutes. Kinoo will first focus on families with young children who live at a distance, such as grandparents and their grandchildren, then expand to other age groups Kinoo: The Family First App.
All of us will be challenged by future separations. Humanity will, sadly, experience other mass infections that change our interactions. We will move to new locations and see our elderly less often. Our children will grow up and they and their children may live at a distance or in other time zones.
We will travel and explore the Moon, Mars, and beyond.
But Kinoo will ensure we will not feel alone.