The Problem of Loneliness

The loneliest places in America, people, technology, and David Foster Wallace.

Vincent van Gogh, Self-Portrait, 1889. Musée d'Orsay, Paris.

Words from the Wise

“A great fire burns within me, but no one stops to warm themselves at it, and passers-by only see a wisp of smoke.”

Vincent van Gogh, Letter to Theo van Gogh, June 1880

Useful Trivia

According to research published in 2022 by Daniel Surkalim, a loneliness researcher at the World Health Organization, the lowest levels of loneliness in the world are observed in Nordic nations, such as Finland, Sweden, and Denmark.

In the United States, 52% of adults report feeling lonely. Wyoming is the loneliest state, while Wisconsin is the least lonely. The loneliest city in the country is Las Vegas.

In 2018, the United Kingdom appointed its first Minister for Loneliness. Stuart Andrew currently occupies that position.

For Your Ears and Eyes

Mull it Over

It’s a chicken-or-the-egg argument for me, a former emo kid, to determine whether my loneliness is innate or was learned over years of being overweight, ugly, and thus predisposed to depressing music, existentialist philosophy, and David Foster Wallace.

In my family, besides my brother and me, who both read weird books and watch independent cinema, there don’t seem to be many lonely people (of course, Hispanic Catholics are specialists in pretending all is okay when it isn’t). Some of it may have to do with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, a topic which Jeremy’s wife Gracie, a psychologist, refreshed me on when I wondered aloud in their apartment about why I get so sad or solemn about the intangible—meaning, purpose, fulfillment—whereas my dad, who grew up poor in the Argentine countryside, seems to be genuinely happy with a full belly and money to buy fishing lures.