Do you feel you have the space to intimately #express yourself and share more #vulnerable sides of yourself online? Social media have extended our #private lives into a digital #public sphere, making it easier to be singled out for personal #beliefs, #habits, or #appearance. …

Solitude is fine but you need someone to tell that solitude is fine — Honoré de Balzac Even today this quote from the French novelist and playwright Honoré de Balzac still manages to capture the irony of loneliness. That even when we are alone, we still need a friend with whom we can share the enjoyment of life. Much has changed from Balzac’s times; the world has undergone through periods of technological and industrial revolution and unprecedented economic growth has brought us in places our ancestors could have never imagined. But even after all this progress, the world is still struggling with huge numbers of people experiencing loneliness. The 2020 Loneliness index published by Cigna reported that three in five adults in the US experience loneliness. This number is particularly important, given that 2020 was a year that most people spent at home due to the coronavirus.