James Laughton on: The Degradation of Social Connection

Summary‍

This article discusses the prevalence of mental health disorders, and broader mental health issues, in the modern world, particularly amongst young people and young adults. It puts forward social disconnection as one of the key factors underlying this mental health crisis, partly driven by the vast increase in social media use. The importance of social connection, as a fundamental psychological need that is increasingly neglected, is explained and emphasised. Prosocial behaviour (i.e. doing things for others) is highlighted as one way in which social connection can be unearthed.

The Mental Health Crisis 

The world is experiencing a mental health crisis. I expect that this is an unsurprising statement for many of you. The World Health Organisation (WHO) reports that there are twenty suicide attempts to every one death, that suicide accounts for one in every hundred deaths globally (WHO, 2022) and that it is the fourth leading cause of death for individuals aged 15 to 29 years old (WHO, 2021). Of course, these figures represent the most extreme end of the scale, in regards to the global mental health crisis we are witnessing. However, given that humans are widely considered to be the only animal to engage in suicide (Peña-Guzmán, 2017), these figures highlight the gravity of the situation we are faced with and offer powerful support to the opening statement of this article. In addition to these alarming reports, the WHO also estimates that 280 million people around the world have depression, while over 300 million have an anxiety disorder (WHO, 2023b, 2023a). Moreover, such mental health disorders appear to be particularly prevalent amongst young people and young adults. For instance, the NHS of the UK reports that 22% of young adults aged 17-24 have a probable mental health disorder (NHS, 2022). Meanwhile, mental health services in the UK experienced a 22% increase in referrals from 2019 to 2022, a total of 4.6 million (BMA, 2024). At the same time, 13.2% of adults in the US were reported to have used antidepressants between 2015 and 2018 (Brody & Gu, 2020). Critically, these findings are not limited to the UK and the US. Other research suggests that depression and anxiety disorders are the leading health burden to children and adolescents globally (Erskine et al., 2017).

The Undiagnosed

There are other trends that are indicative of the significant number of young people who may not have clinically diagnosed mental health disorders, but experience continual difficulties in regards to their day-to-day psychological well-being. As I write this, I am conscious that many of you will currently be doing your undergraduate degrees, given the focus that 180 degrees has on recruiting and developing future leaders from around the world. With this in mind, perhaps the following case will be especially interesting to you. ‘The Science of Well-being and Happiness’ is now the most popular course chosen by undergraduate students at Yale University in the US (Stillman, 2023). This course provides its students with an understanding of how happiness and well-being can be understood from an academic perspective, as well as direct opportunities for its students to partake in activities that will likely improve their own well-being. Is it surprising that there is such a thirst for a module of its kind? Perhaps not, given that the curator of this module, Laurie Santos, recently revealed that faculty at Yale are deemed to be doing their jobs if ‘60% of their students are overwhelmingly anxious’ (Whitaker, 2023). Importantly, this demand for an understanding of how to be happy could also be more broadly reflective of the nation as a whole. Recent findings suggest that almost one quarter of Americans claim to be ‘not very happy’ or ‘not happy at all’ in their life (IPSOS, 2022). Moreover, recent reports postulate that over 45,300 new self-help books were published in 2020, and that the self-help ‘industry’ was valued at $11 billion in 2018, a valuation that is only expected to grow (Lindner, 2023). This would suggest that people are starving for knowledge and practices that will help them learn ‘how to be happy’ and how to find meaning in their lives. Perhaps these trends are indicative of a broader and underlying discontent in the modern world that is generally undiagnosed. The truth is, I probably didn’t need to inundate you with all of these figures in order to convince you of this article’s initial statement. I am sure that you witness and experience different aspects of this crisis everyday of your life. Therefore, perhaps the question we should be addressing isn’t whether there is a mental health crisis, but why we are in the midst of this crisis in the first place. 

Meaning, Happiness & The Degradation of Social Connection

There are many reasons for the mental health crisis that could be discussed. But for the purposes of this article, I will discuss just one: social disconnection. Humans have several physiological and psychological  needs that demand their attention; one way to conceptualise these needs is as individual pieces that collectively form a puzzle. The size and importance of each puzzle piece will differ between individuals, in regards to its unique contribution to each individual’s sense of well-being. However, generally speaking, I would argue that the pieces are the same for everyone. We should sleep well, exercise regularly, find creative outlets and explore our interests. Neglecting any one of these needs can have negative consequences on our well-being, be it physically, psychologically or both. However, the psychological need that I want to focus on here is that of social connection, often referred to in academia as ‘relatedness’ (Deci & Ryan, 2012). This is yet another fundamental piece of the puzzle that contributes to our individual and societal well-being (Bierhoff, 2002; Holt-Lunstad et al., 2015; Ricard, 2018). Even connection to mere acquaintances and total strangers has been shown to have a positive effect on well-being and belonging (Sandstrom & Dunn, 2014). There are many ways in which social connection can be cultivated but, again, I would like to draw attention to one in particular: prosocial behaviour. Critically, it has been shown that prosocial behaviour helps to bolster our need for relatedness, social connectedness, feelings of belonging and support from community (King et al., 2016; Lambert et al., 2013; Martela & Ryan, 2016).

Prosocial behaviour (colloquially referred to as kindness and compassion) generally refers to behaviour that is driven by empathy and is intended to benefit the well-being of others. It is associated with various improvements in well-being, partly through its cultivation of relatedness and social connection, including: enhanced feelings of self-worth, happiness, physiological improvements and even lowered mortality risk (Aknin et al., 2013; Curry et al., 2018; Jenkinson et al., 2013; Strauss et al., 2016). It has also been shown to increase our sense of meaning in life, which itself is essential for subjective and psychological well-being in young adults (Klein, 2017; Krok, 2018). The WHO reports, mentioned earlier in this article, highlight many factors that help us maintain and improve our psychological well-being, many of which are  associated with social connection. Such factors include: contribution to communities, having a sense of belonging, empathising with others, finding purpose in life and thinking about the well-being of others. The same report also suggests that depression and anxiety disorders increased by 25% during the COVID-19 pandemic, potentially a result of the social disconnection experienced during this time due to the implementation of stringent social-distancing and stay-at-home policies (Okabe-Miyamoto et al., 2021). Finally, a meta-analytic review of over 3.4 million participants demonstrated that objective and subjective social isolation can influence the risk of mortality (particularly for those under the age of 65), to the same degree as other well established health risks such as smoking, a sedentary lifestyle and air pollution (Holt-Lunstad et al., 2015). I could go on, but I think you get the picture. Social connection, often derived from prosocial behaviour, is a critical component of our psychological and physical well-being. 

With this in mind, it is of great concern that social connection appears to have been increasingly forgotten about and cast aside by individuals in the modern world. Recent research demonstrated an approximate 25% decrease in daily time spent in real-life interactions for people aged 15 - 25 years old, from 2003 to 2017, relative to a 11% decrease for those aged 26-49 years old (Twenge & Spitzberg, 2020). Indeed, with reference to 51 years of data from 78 different countries, researchers in this field demonstrate global increases of individualistic practices and values (Santos et al., 2017). Over the past three decades we have seen the promotion and uptake of an individualistic, as opposed to community-oriented, way of life, alongside an explosion of social media usage that has been associated with shallower relationships, a lower likelihood of helping others and narcissistic (self-focused) tendencies (Haidt & Allen, 2020; Twenge, 2013). Researchers highlight a decline in empathy for others and civic engagement amongst young people, in addition to a rapid increase of social media popularity (Twenge et al., 2012). Perhaps the phenomenon we are witnessing is partly encapsulated by young people’s increasing neglect for real-life human connection, and an ever increasing desire to seek approval online. Some will argue that social media can supplement social connection, facilitate public debate and inspire social change. However, leading scholars in this field posit that it does so while having detrimental consequences on our overall psychological well-being (see figure 1), partly as a result of the reduced quality of sleep and self-esteem (Kelly et al., 2018). More pertinent perhaps, within the context of this article, is the evidence suggesting that social media appears to offer this technological advancement while eroding positive and indispensable social values, cohesion and connection (Haidt & Ortega, 2022). 

Before concluding, I would like to clarify that this article was not written in order to support or reaffirm the somewhat simplistic cliché that ‘social media is bad’ (nor was it written to deny it). Rather, I hope to put social connection back in our cultural cross hairs as an essential means through which we can begin to improve the psychological well-being of our society. Social media is just one force that appears to suppress our need for social connection, while prosocial behaviour could be one that helps us counteract it.

Final Remarks

Could it be the case that, as socially dependent animals, we have been led astray by false principles and technologies that have pushed us further apart than ever? The disconnection of relationships, not just from our family and friends, but from acquaintances and strangers, is tangible. The intrinsic values that we have as humans, underlined by a need for community, empathy and connection, have been smothered by the artificial and heavily-marketed need to leave home and live alone, purchase material goods and serve oneself with the highest paid job we can find, no matter the negative implications on our social lives. Let’s be clear, there is nothing wrong with individual ambition and drive, per se. However, perhaps we are inadvertently depriving ourselves the satisfaction of making a difference to the lives of those around us. As a result, we are left with a diminished sense of meaning and happiness in our lives, and left instead with a sense of general disillusionment. And so the question still remains, what can we do as individuals to improve our well-being, to find meaning and experience happiness? How can our communities, institutions and society as a whole be built in such a way to enshrine this critical part of human nature? Perhaps engagement in prosocial behaviour, and the social connection we feel as a result, could be one remedy.

References

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