Loneliness is tied to health concerns, but study suggests some are OK with having no friends

Shari MacDonald tries to make sure there are plenty of social activities for people at P.E.I.'s Miltonvale Community Hall — everything from coffee clubs and movie nights to exercise classes and line dancing.

"We do hear lots of people say how happy they are to be at the hall and how pleased they are that events are close to home," she said.

The importance of social activity and friendships has been evident since the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020 and people became more isolated and lonely. In 2023, the World Health Organization designated loneliness as a "global public health concern," appointing an international commission to tackle the problem. 

Research has shown that loneliness is as bad for people's health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day.

Now, a study out of Nova Scotia suggests that people who have few or no friends are not necessarily lonely.

Researchers at Dalhousie and St. Francis Xavier universities talked to 21 people in the Halifax area who said they don't have any friends. 

The results revealed some participants were desperate for friendship. But others had more conflicted feelings about it, said Laura Eramian, an associate professor of sociology and social anthropology at Dalhousie who helped write the report.

"Some people suffered a lot … and were really quite lonely, and others were drawing on another kind of value set of North American qualities — things like self-reliance and autonomy and independence."

Regardless of how our participants felt about their friendlessness, they were all really quite aware that their condition opens them to things like stigma and pity... regardless of what they personally think about it.— Laura Eramian

Some saw friends as a burden that take up a lot of time, but also realized they might be seen as outcasts for not having friends.

In that sense, Eramian said, "it's not so surprising that people are trying to attach a set of celebrated meanings to their disconnection."

"Across the board, regardless of how our participants felt about their friendlessness, they were all really quite aware that their condition opens them to things like stigma and pity and, you know, the larger world kind of sees their lives as inadequate in some way, regardless of what they personally think about it."

The study also found that making friends might be more difficult than ever, as technology reduces the need for face-to-face interaction and people move away from friends and family for work. 

Also, socializing isn't cheap.

"The cost of living is probably impacting everybody," MacDonald said. "If you're looking at places that are expensive to get to, if you're looking at 'I'm going to buy a meal' or 'I'm going to go to this event,' groceries always win or heat wins."

The study recommends governments do more for society to enable friendship, such as free and inclusive public spaces where people can go without spending money or requiring a membership fee.

"So the question is, is friendship accessible to people?" Eramian said.

She suggested a mindset change is necessary, "considering friendship not just as that kind of simple voluntary choice to go out and connect, but rather as something that can be enabled or constrained by the broader structures of our world."