A 2006 study by Duke University Professor Lynn Smith-Lovin found that Americans are more socially isolated than only 20 years ago.
Nearly a quarter of us have “zero close friends” with which to share or talk over issues. More than 50 percent named two or fewer confidants, most often immediate family members.
Unclaimed People
A new Oregon Ombudsman program for the elderly found that sixty percent living in elder care never get a visitor. This American Life at NPR Radio has a podcast about what happens when people are left alone: “There’s a body to be buried, a house full of stuff to get rid of. It so happens there’s a county bureaucracy for just this type of problem.
What is happening?
What are humans for?