earliest forms of life and understanding these reactions will give clues to so called excell biologists who are looking for similar conditions under the i see oceans of the moons of jupiter and saturn. there's people who are looking at this question of where that founder is by looking at how life lives right now and trying to figure out what's common across all living domains. and so what, so those earliest forms of life might have looked like the resolution is likely retiring. its annual us government funded $50000000.00 is coming to an end. the samples it takes up will be stored in volts for study in the years ahead. calling baker alba, 0 the hello. this is al jazeera and the is all the headlines. heavy fighting has been taking place and southern eastern ukraine. rushes as in the sultan's upper region, has failed. earrings president has praised his troops. meanwhile,

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the french president of manuel black on it has been visiting the victims of a nice attack for children. 2 adults were injured at the playground and on see here, the board with switzerland investigation is trying to establish the motive behind the attack. the suspect is a syrian who is granted refugee status in sweden, april images taken from the international space station. so the scale of the wild fires burning in canada, launch pots of the country and the us all blanketed and smoked. the fires have bonds through 3800000 heck, the sofa officials and the philippines have raised the alarm level. the for one of the country's most actors. no volcanoes announced my own and all day providence has been spewing gas, debris, and rocks, raising fields of interruption. nearby villages have been evacuated in my own last erupt. back in 2018. all those are the headlines as always, a website down to 0 dot com has overlays just say,

june. so the stream this next from boston law will along with, with neither side, willing to negotiate because the ukraine more becoming a forever war is america's global leadership. increasingly fragile, what will us politics look like as we headed the presidential election of 2024 critical could us pull that to the boston line. the . so today i want to talk about something millions of people can relate to and that is the i have no friends trends. i'm 2016 years old and i don't have any friends issues initially, latoya a little so terrified of it. they also would it be a low link to earth? maybe i'm going to be alone. i've thought to myself, hey, you know, like when you get to this age,

you just don't have friends anymore. and it's kind of a hard realization to come to, but it just seem normal. no one wants to go online to mix the rest of the while that they have no friends. it's kind of embarrassing and to be honest, is something i've heard lots of shame a but it's something that i've tried to hide in my realize that's just a sample of what some people on social media are confessing to that they have no friends. hi and welcome to the stream where we are all friends. and i'm heidi joe castro. today, the loneliness crisis technology has allowed people to connect in more ways than ever, but loneliness is on the rise. will look at why public health experts believe the problem has reached epidemic levels. well, that's a talk about loneliness in the us state of utah. julian, hold on stat, professor of psychology and neuroscience and director of the social connection and health lab at brigham young university. in the state of washington, lucy of my,

he's weinberg director of the university of washington international adolescent connection and technology laboratory. and in london, harry hobson, founder and director of the neighborly lab. and since we're talking about human connections today, here is your chance to connect with us. please jump into our youtube chat with your questions and your thoughts. guess thank you so much for joining us for this important discussion. i want to start with you harry. the loneliness we just saw displayed on those social media clips. is that hype is that just something more people are talking about, or is this a real problem? a hi id. um, it's a better face. it's, it's, it's a very real thing. i'm based in london, according to size here, about 8 percent of the population is about 700000 people say that always off to load a. so that's about 700000 people just in the city. wow. so it's a big real settings to be

a lovely nest. there's no doubts about that. i'm certainly the way it's been expressed by the young people. we just sort of that cuz it shows that he actually said people speaking up much more about sets of people. are they much more open and frank about it, which i'm sure is a good thing. yeah, that's certainly the 1st step you talked about the u. k. in the us there is specific evidence of loneliness as a pen. demik julianne. you were the lead scientific editor of a recently published us surgeon general advisory, which i have here on my computer. it's titled our epidemic of loneliness and isolation. and further down, it says that lacking social connection is as dangerous as smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day. and if and if it is found that poor social connections is linked to real health outcomes like heart disease, stroke the, the risk of developing dementia. julian, just how serious are these warnings?

yeah, so you know, when we take both the trends of significant portions of population that are lacking, connection in, in one way or, or even multiple ways along with the serious kinds of health consequences. and the implications for public health are tremendous. um in i'll just give you an example of loneliness increases risk for earlier death by 26 percent. the social isolation by 29 percent living alone by 32 percent. but the good news is that those who are more socially connected have an increase of the survival by 50 percent. and so what we know is that humans are our social beings. we're, we're, this is thought to be a fundamental human need to connect. and so it's not surprising that when we

lack this connection that have significant impacts on, on our body or physiology that ultimately lead to some of these poor health outcomes. yeah. let's see a, the pandemic, of course, aggravated this. can you tell me what that impact was? there's only, i'm, i focus, especially in young people, other lessons between the ages of 10 now to 2425. and unfortunately, what many of us have felt during the make is rebuilding the date. the we're seeing increases in only mazda increases in levels of social connectedness and social, so forth and young people, as i. and we are also saying social media as definitely a lifeline that allowed us to stay connected in the face of the lack of in person interactions, the closure of schools. mm hm. so definitely a problem that we were seeing before that, that makes,

that has definitely been confounded and those 2 together. oh, for attention. yeah, i'm glad you brought up young people, but adults 2 are experiencing those. and we also have some numbers to support that . on my computer, i have a report from forbes health that found 59 percent of us adults find it harder to form relationships since colvin and when asked, what are you most nervous about when socializing? well, the, the, the most number of people 29 percent said not knowing what to say or how to interact. then. is it a simplification to say that this pandemic basically helped us, or allowed us to forget how to socialize a hi. um hi. uh i do. yes. i got a couple of quick things um, discussed about this one to um have a quick thoughts about kind of from my point of view, kind of what learning is like. um it's cuz i think i compete. you welcome this,

this amazing report. i'm massaging general about equally. i think it's important up to kind of a standard size that you know. so i think it is an old tree every day, thoughts of life for all of us at different times in our lives. and i don't think it's this thing particularly for the young or for the old. i think it's any of us can become somebody that would be. and it's particularly a times of change with transition or disjunction, when, when life becomes very difficult, really suddenly, especially when you don't have a people around you. so you're used to having to support you. so that can be people to how big changes go to that lives. people have moving to a new place and it's particularly for people who a certain go or live alone, who, who are potentially kind of susceptible to savannah. that'd be nice. thank you. so i just think it's kind of important to read. i just know about it. we used to think of it as i said, and especially for older people, more recently just got some attention on younger people that but actually i think it's best about age and more about like stuck and stuff so that well, well,

be able to think about that and well, i'll just jump in. um i, i couldn't agree more. um, you know, as i mentioned, that social connection is a fundamental human need. and so it's part of the human experience. and you know it's, it's much like hunger and thirst and, and know it's, it's biological drive to help us motivate us, to reconnect socially, to meet this biological need. and so it's perfectly natural and part of the human experience to feel loneliness from time to time. but when people get stuck in it and it, because persistent and severe over time is when we often and feel or see some of these severe kinds of effects. but i'm jumping back to, to the video and, and what you just mentioned. i also recently fos, of data that showed that google searches on, on how to make friends are at

a 20 year high. wow. wow. and so it, you know, it, i think it really shows that not only are people you know hungry, so to speak, to connect, but are also feeling like maybe they don't have the adequate tools in order to do so. yeah, lucy, i wanted to have you talk a little bit too about your research in latin america because we certainly don't want to make it seem like this. loneliness problem is just the global north. but in fact, gal of research did as an estimate, that in 2021 if found more than 300000000 people globally, don't have a single friend who see it. how have you seen that playing out in latin america? both serious and we. i think it is a global trend that we're seeing. i think there's differences in culture that might then for some of these effect left in america. in general,

it tends to be more collectivistic farming area that societies where i think there might be some protective factors that we're seeing play out. mm hm. and, and 11 thing that i do want to bring up is that in studying other lessons of we in development talk about sensitive periods, right? so, very early in life, it's a key sensitive therapy to learn, to speak a language, for example. and we now know that our lesson is a key sensitive period for learning how to build relationships have to foster them . so either worry about the fact of, of many children or lessons who left school for 3 years lived in america for example, had in countries i work with all full 3 years over many of the education where kids have not been able to practice their skills. because their skills can be learned can be taught and should be practice. so it's not surprising to me that young people are asking online, how do i make friends that they're insuring certain of how to now socialize and

interact? i think it's a concern that we are hearing from our undergraduate students as well coming back so. so that's gonna be very much thinking of how we can scaffold and support uh, these skills and social emotional learning in young people and for everyone, right. it's a skill that we can all learn and practice. and it's interesting that these queries are being asked on google technology here. it has helped us and perhaps it has made us more lonely in some ways that as a point of debate among researchers. let's hear from susan, match a history professor at webber state university. ironically, such technologies may actually make our loveliness words psychologist leticia and pep out of u. c. l. a. in the 1980 suggested that loneliness was the feeling when experienced when you have an expectation of so many friends and the reality of a fewer number. so it's the gap between how many you want to have and how many you

actually have. social media encourages police that you can have an incident number of friends. and it's that believe and that inability to ever rise up as high as we want. and the number of friends that may heighten our experience of loneliness. harry, i think there's a, uh, a tendency in social media to make us think that we need constant social affirmation. that might not be such a good thing. you know? yes. right. i think there's 2 reasons why social media kind of has this, the facts, if you will, then it's conceptual comparison. in other words, advising us to compare ourselves often and favorably with people. and the reason why god has had such a harsh effects on us, and especially perhaps that for teenagers is the status that is part is for 2 reasons. first of all, the stuff that people post on line is that you felt that obviously people, if you go into instagram, facebook, what you seem to see is everybody having a break in time. everybody was that problem is everybody, the thing busy looking smiley. so that's bound to get people the sense of kind of

negative self perception by comparison. and then i think another reason is go to the times when we perhaps go too far down that route, the code of social media or specific times movements in your day or in your life when you are on your right by state and perhaps a bit down or a bit like moods and build particular kinds of susceptible to vulnerable to the effects about kind of hard to keep social comparison. yeah, so that's why um, social media can help us kind of ready pernicious effects. i think. yeah. and particularly of young people, go ahead and see me and i think it's very important that we actually measure and know what people are doing on social media because i think we have for a long time just focusing hours in front of a screen, which is not a great characterization of what we're doing on line. so if i'm spending 30 minutes on a website goal with my very close friends, that is going to really build towards this meaningful connections, right?

but if i'm just passively scrolling through instagram, for example, without interacting with friends, just comparing myself to others, then that is going to have negative impacts and loneliness. and that's exactly what we're finding in our own research, right? when we're measuring, fussing him online experiences. that actually associates with less loneliness compared to when we measure negative online experiences, which relates to higher levels of loneliness. yeah, it is certainly not that simple. right. so there are so many different types. go ahead, julie and i was just going to add because of course, you know, i fully agree that we need to pay attention to how time is used. but i also think we shouldn't entirely dismissive because many of these tools are designed specifically to keep our attention. um and, and, and so we have to think about, to what extent is this displacing other valued activities, including things like interacting with others in person. and so, um, uh, you know,

it becomes incredibly complex, of course. uh, but, but something we shouldn't neglect to consider. absolutely. and on that note, perhaps taking this to uh, further extreme, the role of artificial intelligence. i can artificial intelligence actually replace the void of no friends. i mean, it might seem like a silly question, but some people have tried to turn to a guy when they feel only for. and one example in japan, the sale of robot pets boomed during the pandemic. of course, this was during the walk down and this help people harry, i mean they, they're very cute. uh these uh, lists. yeah. me so, but yeah, but i, i, they probably shouldn't be my only friend should it. and probably not, not as, um i um, yeah, i mean it's, it's funny saying these robots and, um,

and some ways you can think of them is existing on a continuum through from dogs and companion animals that we've always had um, through to toys that we perhaps have in childhood as companions, and these kind of things are almost more like toys i'd say to a eyes voice or some kind of mix it based on. yeah, i mean i'm, i'm, i think, i, i think the 1st of all, let's just be completely care is no substitute for human interaction. so social connect to some is about interaction between people. yeah, i'm sorry, i'm assume, which isn't is not that is is, is something less than good sessions contact of course. yeah. but having said got, so you can see roads, right. i kind of helping people build that confidence helping people give a sense of belonging. perhaps, i don't say perhaps most usefully, letting people get help in a really quick and customize way. yeah, in a way to set top thoughts already what went on websites and things like that. there's a good answer, really positive roads. yes,

there is one example i wanted to bring up. it's from a california based startup called replica. and this company has an app that lets you design your personal a friend. that's how it's marketed. let's watch this promo a video. so you're the person, you know, you create your avatar. um, but then of course this is just a, a promo video. so this doesn't happen in the user's experience. but look, they're, they're saying it's almost like having your real robot friends pop up next to you in your living room, doing yoga with you, etc. this video, of course, it's not what people experience, but when i went to this company's website under popular questions, one was, is a replica essentially. and i mean the fact that people are asking perhaps means that they are confused julia. and what is the danger in this as well? so our connections to others for feel a variety of, of needs and, and roles and goals. and so, you know,

we are to be careful about thinking about what kinds of roles that, that a, i might do quite well. um and where it either might fall short or even, you know, cause harm um what are the things that we know can have a benefit in terms of, of our human connection. i the, the, at least currently in the technology. we don't have a good substitute for is, is actual human touch. and not only is there a wide literature on the importance of human touch from, you know, various narrow peptides to got micro biome. um, but even just anecdotally, we can think about even during the pandemic, how much we craved to just be, you know, be able to hug someone. yeah. to be able to hold someone's hand. and you know,

as much as perhaps talking to others on, you know, on the some video chat, it was just a for substitute, you come out. and so those are some of the areas where we just are, it's not going to completely rep, replace human content. now, but it's a little bit better than nothing. and we have a lot of people saying that in our youtube chat, david brighton says i moved to a new city after the lock down and retired. i found a group of friends, a community on youtube, live streams. it's been nice and david, it's been nice to have you to, i'm glad you're joining this conversation. but it's that it's like what we're saying before, right? it's not just passively scrolling through things and ingesting content, but he and others are actually interacting in a part of a community. i think that's why i wanted to say like, you've got guys have it on your youtube. he's getting some of what he needs from, from his youtube friends, ideally as, as their downside to, you know,

really keep in contact with tax included is, is, if you like, the kind of goes down to this, what we will need from craig. but we can get lots of what we need. remote need 3 tac um through conversations that we have on the comments on, on the phone or on. what's apple? oh, by 60 bucks and chaperones. and by getting to know our neighbors through tech groups and so on. so there's no doubt that tech, today's already very helpful road and helping us connect. but it's part of the car system of house the connection. i did contact you at least then. yeah, we'll see what should we go ahead? oh, sorry. yeah. to jump in the car. i completely agree. yeah. one of the interesting my love right now is this idea of online only friendship. right. so it seems to me, but when i was growing up, when i was a teenager, i turned to the beginning of social media to foster relationships that i already had. as of now more and more, we're documenting these online only friends, which might be young people leaving and everything suited people we might never

meet on line. so a nurse enters in our studies, for example, 3040 percent of early on the lessons already told me i have a person, i have a friend of mine that i have never and will never meet in person. and we're trying to characterize these types of friendships as 1st of all, very real for young people. mm hm. where of course, it's very are and you beta. but of course, it's not those similar levels of close as our trust, but a very important sources of shared interests where young people can explore interest with people that they might not have locally. we thinking maybe even particularly important for marginalize youth who might not find community locally. so really paying attention starting to scratch the surface to understand how these online on differentiates, might look like. i want to also talk about some offline solutions at a global house level. japan and the u. k. both created ministries of loneliness in 2021. harry, what does the,

what does the case administer of loneliness do and how is it helping? oh, that's a tough one. i think in times i've been struggling. i knew this was the idea about some 201617 no one's quite sure. if we still got, i don't know. okay. some is he thought he just say some, i think our stuff happens changes. so for us in our government it's out to. yeah. but what about the, what the, how do you solve that would have it? yeah, i was gonna say serious, i mean, city methods to keeps on is especially a matter of london. i accident thinking hard about the session infrastructure. in other words, purchasing the stuff in place that's um and tweaking the environments in which we live. i like to help us connect and that spot. but yeah, navy it out david walk on, particularly um, but certainly governments and city time does have a big role to play and making sure that we have the right kind of streets the right kind of housing, the right kind of parks, the right kind of public space is the media to use to help us connect. yeah, yeah,

definitely. i wanted to brand one last example from the netherlands and there's a tweet about this on my laptop in which the dutch government created slow checkout lanes at a popular grocery chain. and this is for people who want to chat doesn't really care about getting out of there as efficiently as possible. so you get at least a few minutes of face to face time with someone who would like to chat back with them. and it's the small things, right, that do make a difference. and so in our final minutes of this show, i want to ask you guys for things that we and our viewers can do to personally help ourselves help our families and our friends who are experiencing this loneliness. so if you can just in one sentence, tell our viewers directly what is one action they can take to day to help themselves feel less lonely, julianne go ahead. i guess in one sentence um that's gonna be tough, but um i would say reach out to others. we've found in research that

just even small acts of kindness can, can uh not only impact your own. loneliness reduce that loneliness but help you feel more connected to others and those in your community, reduce conflict and, and help others along the way. thank you julie ann. lucy, yes. very much. i know a lot of people are anxious about reconnecting socially, but it does get easier. the more you do is to just start small hope they send that message that you wanted to send, you know, a friend ask someone a question on the street. it gets easier with practice. thank you. it's inherent your last sentence of advice. yeah. level, especially the kind of people do a new and that's a nice new time. those particularly difficult for people to sit and go across the people. you've got lots of things going on and i live close to the people that most likely to, to need your friendship. thank you guys so much. that is all great advice and for our viewers at home. thank you for watching today. if there's one thing you can do

after the show, call a friend, call family member, and thank you so much for watching the stream, the a the african narrative from african perspectives in the company to do show documentaries, by african filmmakers from rwanda and democratic republic of congo. andrew c r e z on, if i need to go, i'm,

i'm on the drive and reinventing cassava a new series of africa direct on how to sierra, unprompted and uninterrupted discussions from our london board cost center on out june 0, facing liliana teams. does the un fits the purpose was like many critics sites just obsolete and doesn't get anywhere near enough done to the amount of money that is put into its hard hitting into b. c. think go to the minus on washington enough for money to go on its own and built it's on a thought provoking on for centuries, people have been taking care of our so i have every confidence that future generations will do it as well via the story on told to how does era not in america is a region of wonder, i'm joy, tragedy, and yes of violet. but it doesn't matter where you are. you'll have to be able to

relate to the human condition. the i've been covering all of latin america for most of my career. no country is a like, and it's my job defense life on how and why of the, [000:00:00;00] the color on top of the car. this has been use our line from coming off in the next 16 minutes. ukrainian video reportedly shows russian troops playing in the east image claiming count to claim or the account to offensive by teeth, so downs, war,