A mountain of research has linked loneliness to an increased risk of dementia, depression, anxiety, heart disease, stroke and early death.

Loneliness is officially a health emergency in California’s San Mateo County, which is located in the San Francisco Bay Area and includes part of Silicon Valley.

The county’s Board of Supervisors passed a resolution on Tuesday that declared loneliness a public health crisis and pledged to explore measures that promote social connection in the community.

It’s the first county in the U.S. to make such a declaration.

  • Evkob@lemmy.ca
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    8
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    edit-2
    10 months ago

    Anybody who wants to get mad about this, look up the sociology concept of third place.

    Here’s a great ~10 minute video from Not Just Bikes on YouTube about third places and how current city planing trends promote social isolation.

    • stratosfear@lemmy.sdf.org
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      10 months ago

      This concept and this video are so fantastic. Goes to show how broken N America is, I’ve been around the block a few times and never really had a chance to stop at a local…