Pandemic has left many Aussies feeling lonely, researchers find

SYDNEY, June 24 (Xinhua) -- Increased reliance on social media has failed to prevent many Australians from experiencing ongoing loneliness triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a report released on Friday.

The study, published in the Australian Journal of Social Issues, set out to gauge how more than 2,000 people, aged from 18 to 88, responded emotionally to life during enforced social isolation in 2020 and 2021.

The researchers, associate professor of sociology Roger Patulny from the University of Wollongong and Marlee Bower from the Matilda Center for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use at the University of Sydney, essentially found that people who were the least lonely before the pandemic tended to rebound the quickest.

"Men bounced back quicker when activities such as sports and recreation resumed," the researchers wrote in an online article in The Conversation to coincide with the report's release.

"This makes sense when you consider men are more likely to base friendships on such activities than women are."

In contrast, those with the longest lingering feelings of loneliness included socially disadvantaged members of the community on low incomes or people with disabilities and their carers.

"Participants reported heightened loneliness attributable to physical isolation, health anxieties, ceased activities, reduced connection quality, and poor motivation," the study noted.

Among their findings were that 49 percent of men and 47 percent of women said they had been lonely at least one or two days a week during the lockdowns.

This dropped to 40 percent of men and 42 percent of women in the months after lockdowns, opening up a gendered "loneliness gap".

The researchers found that many people missed the "physicality" of face-to-face interactions and the "atmosphere" of public spaces, which could not be replicated by online interactions.

"We were surprised by some aspects of the research," Patulny told Xinhua on Friday. "We basically had assumed life would quickly snap back to normal for most people once the lockdowns were lifted, but for many, there remains a residual loneliness."

"During the lockdowns, people reduced their social interactions. They were anxious and under pressure, so didn't have the motivation to spend energy on maintaining connections beyond their closest ties."

"I can sense even now that many people are just a little less sociable than they once were; it's as if we got out of the habit of maintaining contacts."

Patulny said that despite some conveniences of digital communications, face-to-face interactions remained the best way to alleviate loneliness.

"With lockdowns having receded, we should look at ways to reconnect physically with friends, rather than relying increasingly on digital means to bridge the loneliness gap," the researchers concluded.