In the modern society where people prefer to spend a lot of time in smartphones and electronic gadgets rather than the people around them, symptoms for mental health disorders like depression and loneliness have raised to extents never seen before. A new study from YouGov has revealed some interesting facts about the social behavior of millennials.
For the uninitiated, people have been broadly classified into four categories based on their year of birth – Baby Boomers (people born between 1944 and 1964), Gen X (people born between 1965 and 1979), Gen Y a.k.a Millennials (people born between 1980 and 1994), and Gen Z (people born between 1995 and after). This will give you a clear understanding of what I’m referring to, hereafter in the article.
An online survey was conducted with 1,254 US adults over the age of 18 earlier last month. The survey results show that millennials tend to feel more lonely than people who belong to Gen X and Baby Boomer generations. 30 percent of the millennials admitted that they always or very often feel lonely while the percents were much less at 20% for Gen X and 15% for Baby Boomers.
Coming to the most essential part, the interpersonal skills. The study has revealed that almost 25 percent of millennials have admitted that they have no acquaintances, 22 percent with no friends, 27 percent with no close friends, and 30 percent with no best friends. It feels good to know that almost 70 percent of millennials have at least one best friend. Take a look at the below chart from YouGov for comparative analysis.
While the study did not dig deep into the reasons regarding why this is happening, it points out that social media and increased usage of the internet to be some of the main reasons for it. This seems true and complies with previous studies conducted on the same topic.
When people were asked about why they are finding it difficult to find new friends, over 50 percent of them admitted that they’re shy. 27 percent said that they don’t need friends. Similarly, 26 percent of people said that they don’t have any hobbies or interests that can build friendships.
Despite all these disappointing statistics, almost 42% of Americans say that they have befriended someone in the last six months which comes down to 38 percent when it comes to millennials. Of those new friendships, 76 percent are made through work while 61 and 44 percent of people did so in their local neighborhood and spiritual communities respectively.
It might be heartbreaking for introverts but let me inform you that almost 38 percent of people have made at least one friend in parks or in a cafe, the casual small-talk squad, you know.
So, are you feeling lonely or isolated? Feel free to have a chat with us in the comments section below.
