Does being alone mean you are lonely?

About a week ago I saw this article in the Evening Standard. The article highlighted a statistic from the 2001 census stating that 33% of people in the UK are single and went on to say, "That's a lot of potentially lonely people out there — and the problem is only going to get worse." It then went on to talk about loneliness and the break down of social cohesion in our modern society.



I decided to google "Are single people happier than married people?" and found studies that say yes and studies that say no. There seems to be a lot of disagreement on the subject. So of course I am now going to tell you what I think.

I agree that despite the 2 million ways we now have to communicate people are more isolated from each other than ever before, but I think it's rubbish to imply that simply because you are single you are lonely.

 I have been single for quite some time now and I don't consider myself a lonely person. My family even lives thousands of miles away from me and yet I still don't feel alone. I have friends and now a housemate in addition to a variety of engaging activities that keep me busy. When I am actually home alone, as I am now, I don't feel any less happy than when I am with someone.



That being said, I would like to be in a long and lasting relationship, but I'm not at all unhappy nor feel lonely since I am not. In addition I know people who are in relationships and feel quite alone and are unhappy. Fear of actually being alone keeps them where they are despite the constant loneliness they experience in their unhappy relationships. Sometimes they even have affairs, taking on even more partners, to escape the loneliness they feel. Fact is that these are the truly lonely people and they aren't single, but if they were single they would be lonely. At the end of the day, a person's marital status isn't an indicator of how lonely they may be.
 Plus, lonely single people aren't the sole reason for the lack of community cohesion nor are they a result of that. There are a variety of factors that contribute to people feeling isolated but I'm not going to being to spout all of what I think they are here. Time is ticking and I need to get ready to join my community of peers and enjoy the cheesiness that is the Eurovision Song Contest.

See, I'm not lonely at all.

I'm Connected Again!

Let me tell you how disconcerting it is to be disconnected when you're a social network junkie like me. But, I'm back. We have internet in the house and so I'm back and connected again.

Oh and I'm all moved and settled. I love it here in East London. This move was probably one of the best things I've done, only to be surpassed by moving to London to begin with.

Life is good.

I literally stumbled home last night, however. I turned my ankle walking home from the tube after a lovely evening out with friends. It bloody hurt at the time and since I had imbibed a bit, I knew that wasn't a good thing. I hobbled all the way home and today I'm in with my foot up on a pillow with ice on it instead of going to the Columbia Road Flower Market as I had planned. I was also planning on going to the gym tomorrow, but I think now I may give that a miss.

Oh well, anyway it's good to be back- and hey, now I again can tell you about the insignificant details of my my life. Whoop!

And here for your visual pleasure is a picture of the new house.