3 experts explain everything you need to know about loneliness
We created this video in partnership with Unlikely Collaborators.
What does it really mean when you feel lonely? The answer depends on your perception.
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In this video, Robert Waldinger, MD, Kasley Killam, MPH, and Ethan Kross, PhD explore why loneliness has become so common and how it affects both the mind and the body. They explain why friendships are disappearing, how loneliness changes our health, and why being alone doesn’t always have to be a bad thing. Instead of treating loneliness as a personal failure, they suggest seeing it as a signal that helps us understand what we need and how to reconnect.
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@ashfordp676
May 22, 2026 at 6:34 pm
Eleanor Rigby.
@lamusica1592
May 22, 2026 at 6:34 pm
You can have a ton of friends and be lonely if your shared dreams and experiences start to diverge – I found this when all of my friends started having kids
@jochananberohart3578
May 22, 2026 at 6:34 pm
This framing feels too one-sided. Before saying people “used to have more friendships,” we should ask what kind of friendships those were, how we define friendship, and how loneliness differs from solitude. A large social circle can also hide dependency, avoidance, or emotional isolation.
@cheesecake-enthusiasts
May 22, 2026 at 6:34 pm
Some of the best calmest most enjoyable moments in my life are when im all by my self i look forward to it. Ordering in or preping to cook my self a meal having a workout in mind that i do by my self a walk or a bike ride yoga etc. Theyre some of the most enjoyable experiences, im not saying being around people and connected to people is bad but it definitely feels exhausting to me and after a certain amount i need to be alone taking care of me and what i need or want to do. Most of my life that has been called being an introvert but its anoying that people who dont feel this way constanly want to tell you that its wrong to want to be by yourself
@JMB1891
May 22, 2026 at 6:34 pm
I have no friends, I’m fine. People are annoying and selfish.
@earlsimon8474
May 22, 2026 at 6:34 pm
Anyone who relies on the conventional wisdom of just about anything is being misled, by themselves. You can think for yourself. It’s really not all that hard. Give it a try sometime.
@mrmonaco8756
May 22, 2026 at 6:34 pm
being alone and feeling lonely are two different things, you can be surrounded by friends and family and still feel alone
@BB-mq9qk
May 22, 2026 at 6:34 pm
Deadass I love being alone no cap fr fr it’s lit when im By myself gang.
@bobdylan7909
May 22, 2026 at 6:34 pm
Yes, as so many people have written here in the comments: addressing the differerence between being ALONE and LONELINESS is so important!!!!! And doesn't time spent with family count as time spent with friends, providing you enjoy being with your family? As a 61 year old, living oversees with no "family" here, the relationships with my three grown children and their partners, as well as the people I see regularly at work, not to mention my dog: I never feel lonely, although I've been single for almost thirty years. I think we have to clarify what "friends" are…..I have also had romantic and non-romantic relationships where I felt nothing but RELIEF to see them finish! Some "friendships" can be draining, to say the least! We shouldn't forget that…..
@Shan-ug9nq
May 22, 2026 at 6:34 pm
Topic aside, I love her voice. It feels so reassuring.
@johnathanscott4187
May 22, 2026 at 6:34 pm
Why are these videos so short? Do these three have differing opinions, is their clashing ideas here because I couldn't tell. Why a channel with access to such people only gives them a minitue to speak is beyond me
@thisnameistaken
May 22, 2026 at 6:34 pm
This is the dumbest video on loneliness I've ever saw. "We can reframe loneliness as an opportunity to be alone in a positive way" What a crock. People are lonely because they lack connection to others. No amount of being alone is going solve that. Pathetic.
@abdefsdf
May 22, 2026 at 6:34 pm
The first and second speakers didn’t add any new information. They basically said “loneliness is bad and it’s increasing”….. which I’ve heard for like years now. They genuinely added 0 information. The 3rd guy should have spoken the whole time. He ever said “the media greatly represents the negative sides of lonliness”…. And even in this video 2/3 of it was taken up by that same narrative!
@Davt924
May 22, 2026 at 6:34 pm
Missing a lot of context, needs full video.
@ovdtogt1
May 22, 2026 at 6:34 pm
I only feel lonely in social situations.
@parkkubpom
May 22, 2026 at 6:34 pm
Solitude is Bliss
@TheTarbita
May 22, 2026 at 6:34 pm
Solitude is not loneliness
@FSR431
May 22, 2026 at 6:34 pm
There is a loneliness that is soul crushing. Aloneness is good in small doses. That is why isolation, whether it is in a crowd of in fact, is the thing that deals death.
@futuristica1710
May 22, 2026 at 6:34 pm
I enjoy being alone a lot.
@livephysiology
May 22, 2026 at 6:34 pm
Perhaps it's another example of "the poison is in the dose." Being alone can be beneficial, but not being constantly or mostly alone.
@eddenoy321
May 22, 2026 at 6:34 pm
Cue the tidal wave of comments extolling the benefits and virtues of being alone…… How about some middle ground, people ?
@jojoJunesJourney
May 22, 2026 at 6:34 pm
I love my "me time", and I need it more and more. I'm a social person, but I have a tight friend nucleus. It works for me.
@FundsSeeker-fy5rv
May 22, 2026 at 6:34 pm
The world is full of people who are verging on malignant narcicism so being alone offers allot of protection. The situation will only improve when people like chump and putin are removed from power
@Voluspah
May 22, 2026 at 6:34 pm
6mn of stupid bullshit, as time pass i begin to think "Big Think" is mostly a platform to brainwash people and spread propaganda, these clowns need to get out of their laboratory and go see how the real world works because that's how you learn about the human mind by observing and talking to people in real life not by theorizing based on ignorance that is taken for omniscience.
No wonder the world is going crazy with such people.
@old-moose
May 22, 2026 at 6:34 pm
I grew up the only kid on a cattle ranch. I was always alone. To me, being alone is normal & comfortable. It made getting married an interesting process. After 55 years of marriage, I still have to remember to talk to my wife even when I don't have anything important to say. When people ask me how I deal with the loneliness of retirement, all I can do is give them dumb looks.
@GregGregory-hz9lc
May 22, 2026 at 6:34 pm
In today brain wash all the money making machine need people isolated and alone because then you go to work and back and no time to get off the grid or think something else and it's easy to control people isolated try to control fútbol people when they are all together
@Anson120
May 22, 2026 at 6:34 pm
6:19 HELLO!
@lgnd-lm6ug
May 22, 2026 at 6:34 pm
People who are uncomfortable staying alone are really bothered by people who enjoy solitude. They are the ones pushing the myth
@NextPhasePod
May 22, 2026 at 6:34 pm
Love that they separate being lonely from being alone. One hurts, and the other can actually heal.
@yeon723
May 22, 2026 at 6:34 pm
Hey! I'm lonely and smoke 15 cigs a day
@donniecatalano
May 22, 2026 at 6:34 pm
I've been used and tricked so, so many times. I had to swallow so many bad disappointments I decided to close my doors. No more investing in people, no more of that. I'm really so much better without all the crap connected to that.
@Chiboy_Valentino
May 22, 2026 at 6:34 pm
Im sorry.. but your hair is perfection 😍
@sudheeramarasinghe4235
May 22, 2026 at 6:34 pm
I really enjoy solitude❤
@Johnny-ql2vd
May 22, 2026 at 6:34 pm
Having had the opportunity to travel extensively around the world through work and pleasure. Find it very rewarding just to have the option
of being alone. The older I get the less tolerant and easier it is to get triggered/PO'ed at Idiots that just can't seem to help themselves…… 😁✌
Edit: Thanks 'Big Think' you just gained a new subscriber.
@waynotway
May 22, 2026 at 6:34 pm
"We are here to awaken from the illusion of our separateness." — Thích Nhất Hạnh
@hexyvision
May 22, 2026 at 6:34 pm
There is no such thing loneliness, every person is different. A person can be have special interests, specific style of personality or asocial or introvert and can be live as alone. Also can be much more productive and researcher about anything, such as like me which I am happy with that, because there is Internet and possibilities as can be making career or coding or making apps with AI, movies, shows, YouTube, Porn, videos, games, science (articles from scientific journals), researching, visualization and online friends, there is no need anything in World. First need for life is must be understand that there is no eternal joy or unlimitedness in everywhere, everything is attached to a tax mechanism by God, and I have been bald and kinda analytical/asocial person in my nature, every person is different can be like that. Being analytical and caring strict logic is my primary choices of life understanding or system of living. If living in Ancient times, I would be a Christian monk, probably but not similar like that right now because everything is different and there is Modern Age of Humanity, which I am appreciating of much more knowledge/technology and any new things, such as new game, new research, new discovery. This is my experience, every person can have different experiences, tho.
@PabloVidalPeinado
May 22, 2026 at 6:34 pm
I don't need science to know that loneliness, when not chosen but imposed, kills the soul and gets one weak and hence more prone to be sick. If one decides to be alone, then that's a whole different story. Same as being alone because you're stranded on a deserted island. That cannot have the same consequences as feeling alone while surrounded by people.
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