Is social media really behind young people becoming lonelier these days?

Young people are lonelier than all other age groups, according to recent findings from the BBC Loneliness Experiment. In a survey of more than 55,000 people, 40% of 16- to 24-year-olds reported feeling lonely often or very often. This trend for high youth loneliness has also been captured in other national surveys by the Office for National Statistics in 2017 and the  Eden Project in 2015.

Loneliness is typically associated with older generations, who may live alone or be less capable of getting out and about. But young people can experience loneliness despite having friends, being surrounded by people at