Is There Really a “Loneliness Epidemic”? (Ep. 407 Rebroadcast)

真的存在“孤独流行病”吗?(Ep. 407转播)

Freakonomics Radio

社会与文化

2021-09-02

35 分钟
PDF

单集简介 ...

That’s what some health officials are saying, but the data aren’t so clear. We look into what’s known (and not known) about the prevalence and effects of loneliness — including the possible upsides. 

单集文稿 ...

  • Hey there, podcast listeners.

  • Today on the show one last summer.

  • Repeat before we unleash our ferocious fall schedule.

  • This episode is perhaps even more relevant now than when we first put it out in February of 2020.

  • That was just before the COVID pandemic radically reshaped our public lives and our personal lives.

  • This episode is called is there really a loneliness epidemic?

  • We'll give you a few updates at the end of the episode.

  • As always, thanks for listening.

  • So, Eric, when you read an article that says, you know, more than half of all Americans say they regularly experience x emotion, or only 12% of Americans feel such and such, what is that experience like for you as a sociologist?

  • So about half the time I think, wow, that's pretty interesting.

  • And about half the time I'm pulling out my hair thinking, no, don't say that.

  • Eric Klinenberg is a professor of sociology at New York University.

  • Unfortunately, what I find is that journalistic reporting will use survey data when it's useful for the story, and they kind of don't care that much about whether the data underlying it is reliable.

  • And what's wrong with survey data?

  • A lot of survey data is based on a sample that's not really worth generalizing from.

  • A lot of surveys ask questions that will work for a particular time and place, but might not work very well after that, which means you can get a snapshot of a moment in time, but not really a dynamic portrait of something over time.

  • Would you like an example of how.

  • Survey data gets used in the media?

  • Okay, here's an example.

  • A top doctor calls it a national health crisis, not obesity or heart disease.