Isolation in America
According to the national study, titled "Social Isolation in America," the number of Americans with no one to talk to has doubled. And the average number of close friends people have dropped from three in 1985 to two in 2004.
"Many more people talk to no one about matters they consider important to them in 2004 than was the case two decades ago," wrote the researchers.
A full quarter of Americans, the study found, have no close friends at all. Another quarter reported that they have only one trusted confidant.
"For the first time, people are really thinking about the quality of their friendships," Chang said. "A lot of times in our busy world, especially if you've got kids or other responsibilities, we look around and find that we're alone with no one to talk to."
(Friendship Guru Alleviates Loneliness, 8/17/2006)
What frightens me personally is that I've almost totally lost my desire for friendship and my desire to trust. It's weird, because intellectually I know I'm supposed to want lots of friends. I have a couple of women I keep in touch with, but I keep them at an arm's length now. I have seen where friendship and trust leads and the betrayal is inevitable and brutal. I will not go there again.
But, the thing is, not wanting closeness doesn't seem heartbreaking to me... but I think it should. My heart is more or less at peace about it, but my head is confused. I'm supposed to want relationships, but I don't anymore. I think that the friendship part of my heart has been broken one too many times and now it's too messed up to fix.
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