In a 2023 Pew survey, 8 per cent of US adults said they had no close friends; that…
The loneliness epidemic isn't about who we are—it's about when we're forced to rebuild everything at once.
Relationships & Society
Relationships, identity and social behaviour, including how institutions and technologies reshape the way people live together.
625 articles · Relationships & Society
The habit of preparing for conversations that never happen
Rehearsing difficult conversations that never take place is one of the more common private habits of adult life. Research on repetitive negative thinking suggests the loop itself, more than the underlying difficulty, is where much of the cost sits.
The person falling apart behind a composed face usually believes they are the only…
We're all convinced everyone else has it figured out, but the science of hidden struggle suggests you're probably wrong about that.
The philosopher Blaise Pascal wrote in the 1600s that all of humanity’s problems…
We've built an entire philosophy of solitude on a misquoted line and dubious science.
Psychology suggests people who still navigate by memory instead of GPS usually…
The resistance to GPS isn't nostalgia—it's a defense against outsourcing the one skill that makes a place feel like home.
In a 1970s study by Ellen Langer and Judith Rodin, nursing home residents were…
A half-century-old study on autonomy and mortality reveals a messier, more profound story than the simplified version that became an academic legend.
In 1973, a sociologist named Robert Weiss proposed that loneliness is really two…
Even the most socially connected introvert can suffer a particular kind of isolation that has nothing to do with how many people surround them.
Why downplaying a birthday does not reveal confidence on its own
The quiet refusal to broadcast your birthday might say less about confidence than about which compliments you've learned to crave.
Most self-improvement plans stop at ‘I will’; a meta-analysis of 642 tests found…
The secret to keeping resolutions isn't willpower—it's turning vague intentions into automatic responses triggered by everyday moments.
Adult loneliness is often treated as a failure to connect, but among recently…
The modern adult week offers fewer unplanned collisions with potential friends, making deep connection less a matter of personality than of time that no longer naturally accumulates.
Being successful as an introvert is less about learning to command every room and…
The loudest voice in the meeting isn't always the sharpest mind—and organizations that confuse the two are leaving their best ideas on the table.
A 2026 study asked people to design the most emotionally pleasant life possible…
We don't actually want to feel good all the time—we want to feel the way we think we should.