Millennials Are The ‘Loneliest Generation’ In History 

A recent YouGov study reports that around 30 percent of millennials say they feel lonely always or often. The study had 1,254 adult participants aged 18 and older. This a massive increase from Generation X (20 percent) and the Baby Boomers (10 percent). 

The study also shows that 25 percent of millennials claim they have no acquaintances, 30 percent claim they have no best friend and 27 percent say they have no close friends. An astonishing 22 percent of millennials claim to not have any friends at all.

The study doesn’t draw any conclusions to why millennials seem to suffer from chronic loneliness. They point however to an earlier study conducted by the University of Pennsylvania which draws a link between social media and the Internet and loneliness and well-being.

Whilst 27 percent of the questioned millennials feel like they don’t need friends, the most common answer to the reason behind the lack of friends was simply shyness (53 percent).

But it doesn’t all seem to be so bad. 38 percent of millennials claim they have made a new friend in the last six months. In addition to that 70 percent say that they have at least one best friend and 49% claim to have between one and four close friends.

Social Media might be one of the reasons why the millennial generation is the loneliest yet but it also offers ways to stay connected with people you already know or make new friends by using one of the many more and more popular friendship apps available.

Next up, Why Talking Is The Scary But Only Way To Begin Your Mental Health Recovery Journey