A Cry Unheard: New Insights into the Medical Consequences of Loneliness

It is one of the most perplexing paradoxes of modern life. As technology dramatically expands our ways of communicating, loneliness has become one of the leading causes of premature death in all technologically advanced nations.

The medical toll is made heavier by powerful social forces—school failure, family and communal disintegration, divorce, the loss of loved ones. And while loneliness, the lack of human companionship, the absence of face-to-face dialogue, and the “disembodiment” of hu...