Being alone can be nice; being alone is having breakfast by yourself on a peaceful morning, or staying in to watch your favorite show while everyone else goes out. You’re not with others, but still having a good time. After all, you don’t have to do what others are doing, and being alone gives you time to think without outside influences. As an individual human being, it’s important to be alone.
However, some associate being alone to feeling lonely. It’s true that sometimes one may feel lonely because he or she is alone, but loneliness isn’t exclusively the same as being physically alone. Loneliness is being dissatisfied with the people one associates with because the ideal and perceived interpersonal relationships don’t measure up to each other. It’s feeling misunderstood, or being unheard. It’s when you want to say something, but you don’t because you think no one is really listening; they could be hearing your voice, but not really taking your words to heart. And other times you say something, but it doesn’t come out right—maybe the timing was wrong, maybe you weren’t ready to say it. And before you can go back to explain and clarify, everyone has moved on already, misunderstanding what you have said. When you can’t communicate properly with others, you’re left with this feeling that no one really cares, and even though there are billions of people on this planet, you feel as though you are completely closed off from them.
Although it can be easy to feel lonely from simple situational occurrences, such as failing to receive an invitation to a party or feeling out of the loop during a gossip session, loneliness can be caused by a variety of other factors. A major factor that appears to contribute to this condition is genetics; it may seem strange that an abstract concept such as loneliness can be scientifically attributed, but studies have shown that feelings of social isolation are connected to a distinct gene expression that drives inflammation, a response of the immune system. This means that the immune cells contain altered gene transcripts, resulting in differences in the proteins created by the genes. In chronically lonely individuals, it was found that 78 of the gene transcripts were over-expressed, creating too much protein, and 131 of the gene transcripts were under-expressed, creating not enough protein [1]. From this scientific evidence, it can be concluded that the tendency for loneliness is hereditary because these altered genes found in affected individuals are passed down generation to generation.
Because loneliness has been shown to be caused partly by genetics involving the immune system, it has frequently been shown to be connected to the weakening of the immune system. Among the under-expressed gene transcripts are those involved in antiviral responses and antibody production. As a result, the body is more susceptible to viral infections, cancers, and other illnesses. The mere feeling of loneliness also affects sleep, by both destroying a fully restorative sleep period and preventing sleep altogether. This, in turn, further weakens the immune system because it is during a restorative sleep period that the body can produce the most antiviral cells [2].
In addition to weakening the immune system, loneliness is a major precipitant of depression. The inability to feel socially connected to others is debilitating to the mental health, as one may feel misunderstood, lost, and out of place. After his failed suicide attempt, British actor Stephen Fry wrote that “loneliness [was] the most terrible and contradictory of [his] problems,” indicating that loneliness was the biggest contributing factor to his depression and suicidal behavior [3]. An actor was so driven by loneliness to the point of suicide attempt, though constantly surrounded by others and loved by thousands of fans. Clearly, it’s the quality, rather than the quantity, of the people whom one associates with that really matters.
Everyone has felt lonely in a room full of people before. While most people experience loneliness at some point in their lives, many don’t realize how dangerous long-term loneliness can be; because it is often exclusively thought of as a product of negative, meaningless external experiences and interactions, it is difficult to see the detrimental effects of this sensation within our bodies. The numbers don’t matter. It doesn’t matter that everyone loves you if you feel misunderstood and out of place; forget those people. Don’t let loneliness consume you—surround yourself with those who make you feel alive, and do what makes you feel that you have a purpose.
[1] http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/82496.php
[2] http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/excessive-sleepiness-10/immune-system-lack-of-sleep
[3] http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/2013/08/dangers_of_
loneliness_social_isolation_is_deadlier_than_obesity.html
I think the first paragraph is fine because from the title I already knew that you were going to talk about the danger of loneliness, and I understand that even though you opened your essay with the good sides of loneliness, you just wanted to give us the other side of opinion and introduce the main point of your essay. I also like how you relate loneliness to genetics. That’s something I never read about.
I really liked your paper, and it was an easy paper to connect too. Living next to people 24/7 I sometimes wish I had more alone time. However, it did throw me off a little bit in the beginning when you talk about how it is important to be alone. I thought your paper was going to touch on how we need more alone time, or how being alone is not the same as being lonely. Instead, your paper talked about loneliness and why it is bad. Besides the organization, very solid paper.
I really like the topic you wrote about. It was very relatable and I found myself thinking, “Yeah, I know exactly what you’re referring to” all throughout the piece. I also feel like the style of your writing really fit what you were saying—they complemented each other well. I thought it was also interesting that you included the research about the over/under-expressed genes, giving a scientific backing to what you were saying. I also like the ending and how it was kind of like an “instruction” to the reader. Nice job.
I agree with Darby, the scenarios you provide do a good job in making the reader relate to your essay and agree with what you say. I think the intro and the rest of the essay are not very connected though because I though the essay was going to talk about how loneliness is good after the first paragraph.
I think you always do a really good job with backing up your argument with research. You give not necessarily personal scenarios, but scenarios everyone can relate to peppered in with scientific scenarios and the way you mix it makes your essay really strong. I don’t think your thesis fits your argument here. It seems as though your essay argues the destructive nature of loneliness but your argument is that it is important to be alone. Why is it important to be alone if loneliness is so bad?