They reported today that somebody determined half of us are lonely.
I do not know how they could possibly know this since the lonely half of us tend to be bereft of people to complain to. I think if someone came here to talk to me about my experiences with human interaction I would not be lonely then.
Bored, annoyed, confused, or amused perhaps but typically not lonely until the inquirer departed.
What I think they asked was whether the people in the sample had been lonely during some recent past. And what the people replied was whether they feared they might become lonely during some near future.
I am less often lonely than I am in fear of loneliness and so I imagine others have the same experience.
It is hard to have a high level of confidence in the quantitative result. But I intuit plausibility for the conclusion people are either lonely now or in fear of becoming lonely soon. I base this on announcements of anti-loneliness gatherings of various forms.
This seems an act of desperation. In actual reality I never feel more lonely than when I am in a group of people making a effort to be with people. Let's all sit in the same room and do our best to pretend we have something in common.
Sometimes, though, better the actual loneliness than the fear.
Not: If only someone were here now.
But: If only I were sure someone will come later.