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🇬🇷 Greece /Culture & Society

Why do we feel so alone? Social media’s vicious cycle and the search for community

From Ta Nea · () Greek

Translated from Greek and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

Analysis Named sources Context piece
  • A 2023 European Commission survey found that loneliness affected about 16 percent of respondents in Greece, with higher reported levels among younger people.
  • The article distinguishes existential loneliness from social isolation and argues that some loneliness forms part of the human experience rather than a problem that can be permanently solved.
  • Social media can provide moments of belonging and connect people across distance, but it may also leave people seeking deeper community beyond the screen.

Europe’s first loneliness map, published in 2023, produced a finding that runs against common expectations: younger people reported loneliness more often than older people. Ireland ranked highest, with 20 percent saying they felt lonely always or most of the time. Luxembourg and Bulgaria followed, while the figure in Greece stood at about 16 percent.

The age pattern matters more than the differences between countries, the article argues. Retirement, withdrawal from active social life, bereavement and a smaller close circle might seem to make older people more vulnerable. Yet the survey found that loneliness generally declined as age increased.

Loneliness is not inherently and entirely problematic.

· Antonis OikonomopoulosThe psychologist and psychotherapist distinguishes existential loneliness from a condition that must always be treated as a problem.

The explanation begins with a distinction. Loneliness is not the same as social isolation, nor is it caused entirely by external circumstances. At a deeper existential level, it belongs to human experience itself, alongside awareness of mortality. People can form close relationships, love and share joy or grief, while still experiencing something that remains empty, unfinished or impossible to communicate fully.

The unbridgeable gap that remains between people, even when there is a desire for connection.

· Antonis OikonomopoulosHis description of existential isolation as part of the human experience.

“Loneliness is not inherently and entirely problematic,” psychologist and psychotherapist Antonis Oikonomopoulos told tanea.gr. He described existential isolation as “the unbridgeable gap that remains between people, even when there is a desire for connection.” Personal development, he said, also involves making peace with solitude and drawing from it space for growth and emotional balance.

The question, then, is when existential loneliness crosses into an intense daily problem. A message, like, reaction, conversation, video or online community can briefly create the feeling that someone sees and hears us. Social media partly meets the need to belong, Oikonomopoulos said, while the digital age also allows people separated by geography to find one another. The article points toward a life beyond the screen, where those temporary connections can lead back to community.

Through social media, the need to belong relationally is partly covered.

· Antonis OikonomopoulosHis explanation of how online interaction can provide a temporary sense of connection.
About this summary

Originally published by Ta Nea in Greek. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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