SOCIAL ROOT CAUSES OF LONELINESS

Loneliness may have many varied root causes.  However, identifying the root causes in a specific situation of loneliness makes it possible for an individual to be helped.  The following is one root cause of loneliness that can be considered for the sake of our studies.

They are considered root causes because there can never be a solution to any problem without first dealing with the root of the problem, and this is the same with loneliness.  It is common knowledge that every tree or fruit produces after itself and the root of every plant that grows downwards determines its fruits growing upwards.

We live in a society that promotes loneliness.  Ours is a fast, mobile, and changing society without any provision for quality time with people.  Technology and television plays a major role in this aspect of loneliness.

Most people in the professional world are increasingly feeling less needed as businesses, churches, and education gets bigger.  Efficiency and productivity has become more important at the expense of satisfying relationships at many places of work.  Computerized mechanisms have been invented to take the place of human labour; hence most relationships in today’s world are shallow with the lack of contact making loneliness more dominating. There was a time in the past when people worked together without much emphasis on already programmed machinery. This system kept people together beyond their places of work. A fast growing, automated age has increased the number of victims of loneliness.

Television and internet plays a major role in today’s society.  Because of television, there is much less time for personal communication.  The little time that people do have in our mobile society is often spent in front of the television and internet.  Many people have replaced church attendance with television church programmes.  These spirits of loneliness further keep people in front of the internet on chat rooms, communicating with people they don’t know with the intentions of finding a marriage partner.

The next social factor of loneliness is poor family relationships.  A number of studies suggest that family background is a crucial factor in an individual’s vulnerability to loneliness.  Relationship to parents, childhood friends, less family togetherness, and lack of family bonding early in life can contribute to loneliness.  Divorce, lack of affection with parents, and domestic violence has contributed to poor family backgrounds resulting in loneliness.