Growing Lonely

How has the most connected society in history also become the loneliest?

Not too long ago, research showed the average person had close to five people outside of their family members they were
deeply connected to. However, the new research suggests the average person today is only deeply connected to two people as our society is growing lonely.

Typically if someone ever suggested we are alone, our guards go up and we get defensive because no one wants to admit they are lonely.
We quickly start talking about friends, co-workers, classmates and people we know from church…
But then you pause and realize you haven’t truly connected with those people in a long time. 

We still believe we are well connected but then experience this taste of this loneliness… 

You constantly keep looking at your phone throughout the day hoping that someone texts you, but they never do.

Every year you begin to notice less and less people wishing you a happy birthday Facebook, and although you say to yourself it’s because
“no one uses Facebook anymore’, that’s actually not the true reason less why you get less notifications.

Each weekend you hope there’s something new on Netflix because you realize that’s who you might be spending Friday night with rather than other friends. 

The reality hits when you’re finding out about your friend’s engaged or new baby on social media rather than hearing about it through them personally.

Maybe you never realize how disconnected you are until you went through that recent crisis and realized there’s not too many people
on your contact list you can pick up the phone and call anymore.

Loneliness simply happens in life as the people you were once connected to move away, change jobs, enter a new stage of life or now attend a different church.
For many of us, we stop doing life with them and our circles get smaller and smaller. The problem is we never build up new connections and new circles with others along
along the way as we have grow lonelier and lonelier.

The Bible says it’s not good for us to be alone. God addresses this to Adam because he was lonely. They say loneliness is one of the hardest experiences to deal with
and it actually takes a physical, emotional and spiritual toll on all of us. The interesting part is we have this understanding that the world was all roses and butterflies
until Adam and Eve disobeyed God and sin entered the world. We were taught all the negative feelings and experiences started as a consequence of us
turning away from God. However, it’s interesting that we see loneliness, which isn’t all roses and butterflies is there before the fall of man.

The truth is we are all created, designed and wired to be connected with God,
but also one another so it shouldn’t be a surprise to see the negative toll loneness has on us.

The good news is we currently have 7.53 billion people on this earth.
The other piece of good news is that you’re not the only person out there who has grown alone.
The the last bit of good news is you don’t have to be lonely.

You have more control over this part of your life than you know.

Today
We can continue to do the same thing and hope someone connects with us, or we can be intentional and take action as we connect with others.
Rather than waiting on someone to connect with you, how about you send the first message, or make the first phone call to someone you have lost touch with.
Or message that person from your church or in your work circle you’ve been meaning to connect with but you never got around to it.
It would be life changing for you…and them.
Be connected