Loneliness, health and a solution in neighbors and planning

 From Retro Report:

Even before the Covid pandemic shut down schools, closed businesses and introduced the idea of social distancing, medical experts were seeing an alarming increase in Americans struggling with isolation. The U.S. surgeon general has called this trend an epidemic of loneliness, as harmful to health as smoking cigarettes. Now some Americans are embracing a collaborative living arrangement called cohousing as a solution.

Lesson Plan

Student Activity

Additional resources

• Transcript for “Loneliness Is on the Rise. Are Closer Neighbors a Solution?” (Retro Report)
• Are you lonely? You’re not alone (Star Tribune)
• Loneliness Scale (U.C.L.A. Version 3, Psychological Testing Online)
• Social Connection Fact Cards (U.S. Surgeon General’s Office)
• Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Explained (ThoughtCo.)
• Humanistic Psychology’s Approach to Wellbeing (PositivePsychology)
• Loneliness and Social Isolation Linked to Serious Health Conditions (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
• The remarkable power of holding hands with someone you love (The Washington Post)
• Helping children make friends: What parents can do (Harvard Health Publishing)
• The Connective Power of Curiosity (Sparks & Stitch Institute)
• A loneliness cure — make one friend a year (The Washington Post)
• How to make friends? Accept the awkwardness (National Public Radio)