There is no epidemic of loneliness, but there is an epidemic of scurvy

The article 'There is no epidemic of loneliness' argues that the notion of an epidemic of loneliness is a myth. This misconception may have arisen from a 2020 paper that reported a significant increase in loneliness among US adults during the pandemic. However, the author of the current article suggests that this increase was not due to an actual rise in loneliness, but rather a change in how people were responding to the survey questions. The author also notes that the survey questions used in the 2020 study were not designed to measure loneliness, but rather to assess feelings of social isolation. The current article cites a 2020 study that found that the prevalence of loneliness in the US had not changed significantly between 2018 and 2020. Additionally, the article references a 2019 study that found that the prevalence of loneliness in the UK had not changed since 2015. The author concludes that the notion of an epidemic of loneliness is not supported by the data and may be due to a misinterpretation of survey results. In a separate note, the author mentions that, on the other hand, there is an actual epidemic of scurvy, a disease caused by a lack of vitamin C, which is often caused by a diet lacking in fruits and vegetables.