- Americans ages 18 to 29 were more likely to report feeling lonely than older adults, according to a survey.
- Older Americans were also more optimistic about their lives than the younger group.
- Gen Z’s loneliness may stem from fewer social connections and later marriages.
As social life uneasily revives from the shocks of the pandemic era, Gen Z is still feeling lonely.
A new survey by the Pew Research Center of 6,204 American adults, conducted from September 3 to 15, looks at how optimistic and lonely different ages are. groups feel. Overall, 16% of all American adults say they feel lonely or isolated from those around them all or most of the time.
But loneliness varies markedly by age. Nearly a quarter of Americans ages 18 to 29 said they felt lonely, compared to just 6% of those 65 and older. At the same time, adults 65 and older were more likely to say they felt optimistic about their lives all or most of the time, while just under half of 18-29-year-olds said they felt the same .
“Older people are almost always the happiest age group,” Kim Parker, Pew’s director of social trends research on happiness research, told Business Insider. However, she was surprised by the more negative opinions of the younger group.
“It’s interesting to see that two-thirds of adults 65 and older say they feel optimistic about their lives all or most of the time when only 48% of 18-29-year-olds do when they have so much time ahead of them . Parker said. “But it may be that there are so many more unknowns at that stage of life that it’s harder to feel optimistic.”
Gen Z’s loneliness problems may have to do with the weakening of society connections. As BI previously reported, Gen Zers are facing an extreme friend crisis: They lack the wider connections and social networks that were more easily accessible to previous generations. At the same time, community-building groups like unions and religious institutions are fading, as are third spaces—places that are not work or home, but instead focused on gathering and socializing.
Part of the abyss of loneliness and optimism can also be are about how much Gen Z is socializing: Young Americans are spending more time alone. In 2010, Americans between the ages of 20 and 24 spent about four hours a day alone, a number that has grown since then, peaking at an average of 6.7 hours a day spent alone in 2021 — a likely result of time spent alone during the epidemic. Notably, time use data is not available for 2020, as the Bureau of Labor Statistics encountered problems with its survey during the early spread of COVID.
Of course, not every big, old American is optimistic or avoiding loneliness. Older Americans who rely almost entirely on Social Security, for example, have told BI that they feel isolated and unable to afford social activities that might otherwise help keep loneliness at bay.
Another factor contributing to Gen Z’s loneliness may be related to larger societal and demographic trends. Eight percent of married Americans said they felt lonely or isolated all the time, compared to 24 percent of those who are not partnered.
With 86% of 18-24-year-olds single as of 2023, Gen Z’s relationship status may weigh on them as well, especially as dating becomes more expensive and Americans marry later in life.
“We consistently see that married adults are happier than single adults. It doesn’t bode well for a population that is increasingly likely to be unmarried in terms of how they might feel about optimism.” , about their lives and what we would be looking at in the future in terms of a trend,” Parker said. “But we won’t know until we get there.”
Are you dealing with loneliness, or have you found a solution? Contact this reporter at jkaplan@businessinsider.com.
