More Australians are feeling lonelier now than before the COVID-19 pandemic, new research has found.
Telstra’s Talking Loneliness report released on Friday found 27 percent of people experienced loneliness for the first time during the pandemic, while almost half of Australians still feel lonely because of COVID-19 lockdowns.
“The pandemic has really disrupted our social routine and behaviour,” clinical psychologist Michelle Lim told AAP.
“I think we’re going to be experiencing huge disruptions to maintaining relationships for a very long time.”
Almost two-thirds of Australians regularly feel isolated from others, the report found, while one in four say they don’t have people they can regularly talk to or turn to….