We live in a crazy world where we get into heated debates with strangers on the internet and show we like stuff by pressing tiny digital hearts. Who came up with this weirdness? And as we have more and more digital interactions, the data shows we’re losing actual human connection. A report by Harvard suggests that about 36 percent of Americans (including 51 percent of mothers with small children and 61 percent of young adults) experience “serious loneliness.”
And even though we tend to see independence as a strength, the stress of disconnection contributes to a ton of issues, including substance abuse, anxiety, depression and heart disease. Those are some pretty high stakes—which is why we need to do what we can to change those statistics. Here’s what we all need to know about human connection and how to achieve it….