I've been doing lots of reading around quotidian geographies for a few years.
One unfortunate daily experience for many is to live alone and not have contact with many other humans during the day.
Loneliness is a particular issue for many elderly people, partly because of the disparity in life expectancy between men and women, and also the changing nature of society.
Next week is Loneliness Awareness Week.
Check out the work of the Marmalade Trust that works in this area.
There are also geographical trends in Loneliness.
Rebekah Smith said in 2015 that:
“In terms of geographical context, residents of main urban areas, and in lower socioeconomic areas show a higher likelihood of being lonely.”She also talked about the role of technology in helping (or potentially) hindering the development of real face-to-face friendships, particularly since COVID19's restrictions. There are also changes in the way that people interact in terms of partnerships:
"Loneliness can be grasped as the “feeling” or the emotional experience of those without or denied the experience of the bond, or specific prior bonds. It can therefore arise and persist “inside” “contemporary partnerships” as much as when they are cancelled."Elderly people are particularly vulnerable to this, and Age UK produced a heat map of loneliness back in 2022. They also used data to help target support in particular areas.
Click the map to see how your areas fares.
As I live in Norfolk, which has quite a high elderly population, and I'm relatively old myself, it wasn;'t surprising to see that I live in an area where there is a high risk of those aged over 65 being lonely.
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