Could loneliness be as contagious as the H1N1 virus? Is loneliness dangerous to the public’s health? Usually we think of “infection” or “contagion” only in relation to medical viruses and define lonely people as those who keep their feelings to themselves.
Yet in a ten-year study researchers have found that loneliness is contagious and that it spreads through social networks. A lonely person can affect people as many as three degrees of separation away. If someone directly connected to me is seriously lonely, for example, I am 52 percent more likely to be lonely. A second degree of separation leads to a 25 percent increase; a third degree, 15 percent. I may be affected by the emotional reactions of my co-worker’s spouse’s brother.
Joseph Cacioppo, one of the researchers of the study, argues in his book Loneliness that people who are lonely tend to view things as more threatening than they really are. Apparently the part of the brain that processes feelings of loneliness also processes physical pain. So those who are feeling lonely can easily convey to others feelings of fear or threat as well as feelings of pain.
The reverse side of this is that smiles are contagious. I’m sure people know acquaintances or friends who can light up a room with their positive body language and demeanor. Besides relatives, positive close friends can also be cross-gender or cross-generational and remain platonic. Sometimes society and even the Church cannot accept this because clergy, etc, are dealing with so many other kinds of problematic brokenness. As a widower who lives alone, I very much value the many smiles I exchange everyday with the faculty, staff and students where I work. It helps me forget my own personal loneliness.