Imagine a condition so bad for your health, it:

Reduces your life expectancy as much as smoking 15 cigarettes a day
Carries an increased risk of dementia and heart disease
Causes your wounds to heal more slowly

There is one: loneliness https://trib.al/mWc2WkK 

In the face of a pandemic whose deadliness is as obvious as the refrigerated trucks parked outside hospitals, the world seems to have decided that people — especially younger people — who feel lonely right now are:

Selfish
Weak
Entitled
Bored http://trib.al/mWc2WkK 

Late-night comics joke that the Greatest Generation survived the Great Depression and fought World War II: Today’s youth are merely being asked to binge on Netflix.

This comparison ignores the fact that connection is one of humanity’s most basic needs http://trib.al/mWc2WkK 

There’s been lots of sympathy for lonely elders during the pandemic.

Without diminishing their suffering, it’s worth asking: Can’t this same empathy be extended to lonely young people? http://trib.al/mWc2WkK 

Young people may feel even worse than their elders.

Surveys conducted before the pandemic found the highest rates of loneliness among the young and the lowest among people over the age of 72 http://trib.al/mWc2WkK 

Younger people report higher rates of anxiety and depression as well, and the pandemic hasn’t changed that.

In July, 47% of people under 30 reported feeling anxious, compared with only 13% of people 80 http://trib.al/mWc2WkK 

Working people in their 20s have been more likely than older people to be laid off than older workers this spring:

One in four workers under 25 lost their jobs. They’ve lost not only health benefits, but also their sense of purpose http://trib.al/mWc2WkK 

People under 35 are less settled at home, generally living with family, roommates or an unmarried partner.

Friends provide stability in a life of ever-changing roommates, boyfriends and jobs http://trib.al/mWc2WkK 

Older folks may be better equipped to cope with isolation. The human brain changes throughout life, and people with older brains report higher levels of:

Contentment
Satisfaction
Positivity http://trib.al/mWc2WkK 

Let’s be a little more understanding of the young.

If we don’t want people in their 20s going to bars, we should shut down bars — not reopen them and then yell at whose who show up http://trib.al/mWc2WkK 

Public policy to control Covid-19 cannot rely on shaming or harassing people into compliance.

Yes, some young people could be doing a better job of social distancing. But understand that, for them, it’s probably harder http://trib.al/mWc2WkK