As many of us know, loneliness is different than being alone. But when does solitary time start to correlate with loneliness? It turns out that science has an answer.
People who spend 75% of their time alone find it difficult to avoid feelings of loneliness. That’s what University of Arizona researchers determined after studying the lifestyle habits of more than 400 people over the past 20 years.
To characterize time spent alone, one of the techniques the researchers used was a smartphone app that recorded the sounds participants made every 12 minutes. On the basis of that and other data, the typical study participant spent 66% of their time alone. Those who were alone more than three-fourths of the time reported feeling the loneliest.
Among older adults, being alone and feeling lonely are more closely linked than they are in younger people. For people over age 67, there was about a 25% overlap between aloneness and being alone. That compares with about 3% among all the study’s participants.
For older adults, the increased sense of loneliness may result from demographic and aging issues. People’s social networks tend to shrink as they get older, as does the ability to spend time with others. The researchers also noted that younger people may have a wider range of responses to solitary time and loneliness: They might feel lonely in a crowd or be perfectly at ease by themselves.
No matter the age or situation, loneliness can be a health determinant. In fact, the U.S. Surgeon General noted just that in a 2023 advisory.
So, mind your habits and your social calendar: There’s a definite line between being alone and feeling lonely.