“Angel of loneliness and desolation, prisoner of your illusion you are going to dance, dance, dance.” Loneliness, that old -known old woman, has ceased to be just a matter of melancholic letters to become a global public health concern. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), this phenomenon is growing in a sustained way in every corner of the world. We no longer talk about moments of introspection or eventual lonely coffee, but of chronic isolation that affects mental health, especially among young people. But how do we get here and, more importantly, what do we do about it?
The United States Department of Health published a revealing report in 2023 in which it declared loneliness as an epidemic with an impact comparable to the consumption of 15 cigarettes a day. If you find it exaggerated, think twice: how long do we spend in front of a screen, self -absorbed in the consumption of the algorithm, and how much time do we spend socialize without looking at the cell phone? The digitalization of leisure and the disappearance of the face to face are part of the problem. The technology, designed to connect, has caused in the 21st century, with the advent of the smartphone, an unprecedented emotional and social disconnection.
If social isolation is a global problem, young people are their main victims. The WHO is sharp with figures: one in seven young people between 10 and 19 suffers from some kind of mental disorder, and suicide is the third cause of death between people aged 15 to 29. For its part, the Spanish NGO Soledades recently presented a report in which it details how three out of four young people who experience unwanted loneliness suffer from more than a year. This situation is aggravated in those who face unemployment, poverty, discrimination or harassment. In addition, social networks, far from being an escape route, reinforce the isolation when creating bubbles where real interaction is relegated.
The transformation of the labor market is also in the center of this crisis. Platform capitalism has generated an environment in which access to quality use is almost impossible for most. According to the International Labor Organization, there are 255 million young people in the world who do not study or work, while 64 million are unemployed.
In Argentina, 9 out of 10 young people face difficulties in getting work, according to a report by the main human resources companies. This panorama not only precarizes, but also isolates young people, facing them a context without future perspectives. The feeling of resignation, combined with the constant narcissistic depression that builds the screens and the consumption of realities of others, makes it even more imagining alternatives. “There is no alternative,” Mark Fisher paraphrased Margaret Thatcher by stating that capitalism has colonized subjectivity, normalizing precariousness and discomfort.
The key question is: Is there hope? Humbly, these lines try to propose yes. The answer could be to recover the collective, the social, the public. “Resocialization” is not only desirable, but urgent. This implies resignifying public space, promoting the meeting through face -to -face activities and mobilizing around common causes. Unquestionably, it also means strengthening the role of the State and promoting policies that encourage community interaction and protect the citizenship of business voracity. Some governments have begun to act, although timidly. This is the case of New York City, which demanded five platforms for their negative impact on the mental health of children and young people.
As Fisher said, “We must invent new forms of political involvement, revive institutions and convert privatized disaffection into politicized anger.” It may be time to take those words seriously and start imagining alternatives where young people can meet again, not only among them, but also with a future that is worth living. So that an angel of loneliness does not reign, but rather, a Ji Ji Ji.
By Julián Eyzaguirre
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