In the modern years of social medium and mobile communications , we human being have never been more machine-accessible to each other . But still , lonelinessis a common – and oftendamaging – experience . When does being on your own tip over into feelings of loneliness ? fit in to a new study , loneliness and loneliness are much less colligate than you might assume .

“ We are learning more and more about the importance of societal connection for human health , and it appears that loneliness and isolation are associate but distinct concepts , ” said aged generator David Sbarra , of the University of Arizona , in astatement .

The first affair to do , as co - author Matthias Mehl explained , was to rise a rich step of how much time people expend alone . The team leverage a method that Mehl had already developed , called the Electronically Activated Recorder or EAR . It works via a smartphone app , taking 30 - second well-grounded recording from player every 12 minutes .

“ For instance , we know if the soul is on the phone , if they are drive , watching television or if they are interacting with a better half or a unknown , ” say Mehl .

Over 400 people across a vast age range , from 24 to 90 years older , were include in the enquiry , and the EAR was alive for between two and six day for each mortal . The data point were collected from several old written report that had take EAR , to grant the authors to yield a larger sample .

When the information were analyze , a clear age - related trend start to go forth . Mehl excuse that for younger citizenry , loneliness and aloneness are considered to be wholly separate phenomenon . Forolder adults , however , there ’s a much clearer connexion between the two .

“ Among adult 68 years and elder , we happen that desolation is powerfully link up with being socially isolated , ” Sbarra said . In this group , there was an intersection of around 25 per centum between loneliness and aloneness . This is in stark contrast to the effect for the intact cohort of participants , which showed an overlap of just 3 percent .

One hypothesis is that older hoi polloi tend to have fewer and more meaningfulsocial tie , so the red ink of these has a more significant impact on their eudaemonia , leading to loneliness . In contrast , new adult tend to socialize for a variety of reasons , and do n’t necessarily equate being around other people to a deep meaningful social experience .

While on average people were expend 66 percent of their fourth dimension on their own , the researchers find out that those who push this above 75 per centum were the most potential to feel lonely . However , there were also slightly elevate degree of aloneness in those who spent the least time on their own – surprising , veracious ? Although it was not possible to conclude anything authoritative from the data point , the authors suggest that this could be due to those who have strong feelings of loneliness seek out more societal interaction to attempt to combat it .

cash in one’s chips forward , Mehl is working to develop “ SocialBit ” – a fitness tracker , but for societal bodily function . The app will escape on a smartwatch and measure how many conversation the wearer is having each 24-hour interval , giving them a easy nudge when they ’ve been solitary for too long . The first patient age group that Mehl hopes will benefit is those in recovery from astroke , since societal closing off is heavy job in this group .

forlornness and isolation have beendescribedby many as “ deadly ” , and the more scientist read about this issue , the better able-bodied to tackle it they will be . But it ’s interesting to learn that being alone and feel lonely – two things that you might take over go handwriting - in - handwriting – are not always as connected as they seem .

The study is published in theJournal of Research in Personality .