The men's loneliness epidemic might not exist

It's Been a Minute

NPR

News Commentary, Society & Culture, News, Spirituality, Religion & Spirituality

4.6 • 8.8K Ratings

🗓️ 17 February 2025

⏱️ 22 minutes

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Summary

We're back with "All the Lonely People," a series diving deep into how loneliness shows up in our lives.

This week: is the men's loneliness epidemic overblown? There's been a lot more attention on loneliness in the past few years, with special attention on men's loneliness. And some men definitely are lonely: according to a recent Pew survey, 16% of men say they're lonely all or most of the time. But so are 15% of women. So why are we so concerned about men? What launched the narrative about men's particular loneliness? And if the problems men are having don't boil down to loneliness, what do they boil down to? Brittany is joined by Vox senior reporter Allie Volpe and Harris Sockel, writer and content lead at Medium, to break it all down.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	I am thrilled to announce that it's been a minute will be doing a live taping of the show at On Air Fest on February 21st in Brooklyn, New York.
0:07.2	And I am so excited to offer listeners like you an exclusive 40% discount.
0:11.4	Use special code I-BAM 40 to secure your tickets and join us for this live show you don't want to miss.
0:17.5	Again, that is I-B-A-M-40 to get 40% off your tickets at on-airfest.com.
0:26.7	Hello, hello. I'm Brittany Luce, and you're listening to It's Been a Minute from NPR,
0:31.8	a show about what's going on in culture and why it doesn't happen by accident.
0:56.7	Do you relate? Well, you may be lonely, but you're not alone. One third of Americans report feeling lonely at least once a week. And 16% of Americans report feeling lonely all or most
1:03.3	of the time. It's hard to say definitively if loneliness has gotten worse, but what we do know is that a significant amount of people are feeling it.
1:17.9	And we also know that chronic loneliness is really bad for us.
1:21.9	Studies show loneliness is associated with a higher risk for heart disease, dementia, stroke, even premature death.
1:29.2	But who is at greater risk for loneliness? And for those of us stuck in the loneliness loop,
1:34.2	how do we get ourselves out? I'm Brittany Luce, and for the next few weeks on It's Been a Minute,
1:39.2	we're launching a series called All the Lonely People. We're diving deep into how loneliness shows up in our lives
1:45.9	and how our culture shapes it. This week, we're talking about men. Outside of the general
1:55.5	loneliness epidemic, there's also been a lot of discussion about a men's loneliness epidemic.
2:01.4	Study after study is showing that loneliness is on the rise and men are being hit especially hard.
2:06.9	It's called the male loneliness epidemic, where men tend to be more isolated than women.
2:12.5	And a lot of men are lonely. About one in seven say they're lonely all or most of the time. We asked our
2:19.5	listeners what that looks like, and here's what a few of them had to say.
2:27.6	I'm a 63-year-old lonely man. I think the loneliness is a result of a divorce of five years ago.
2:36.7	I guess I'm trying to make sense of what someone is supposed to do in their 40s.
2:44.1	I can't help but think about the community and the sense of togetherness and unity that I experienced earlier in life.
	...

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