Walking: A Cure for Loneliness
Over the past few years, the American Psychological Association and numerous media outlets including the New York Times, PBS, and NPR have been documenting the rise of loneliness in America. As a whole, Americans are becoming more disconnected, disenfranchised, and disassociated from their communities.
With the introduction of new technologies allowing us to connect with people across the globe in a matter of seconds, you’d think our society would be feeling increasing levels of connection, but this just isn’t happening. According to a 2018 study by the Kaiser Family Foundation, one in five Americans frequently feels loneliness and social isolation, and the consequences are not good. People suffering from loneliness are more prone to negative health outcomes, including obesity, heart disease, depression, anxiety, and increased levels of substance abuse.
What is causing this epidemic of loneliness? I would argue that it’s the result of numerous factors including increased cell phone usage, the rise of political vilification, suburban sprawl, an increase in remote working, the recent pandemic, longer time spent in traffic, and the deterioration of free and accessible third spaces. With enough money, one could buy their way into social connectivity with a country club membership, but what about the rest of us who don’t have that kind of money? Thank goodness for local public libraries (more to come on this topic later)!
As a devote Kurt Vonnegut fan, I would be remiss if I didn’t highlight his answer to the problem as written in his autobiographical collection of writings, Palm Sunday. In it, he wrote, “what should young people do with their lives today? Many things, obviously. But the most daring thing is to create stable communities in which the terrible disease of loneliness can be cured.” But how can we “create stable communities” when so much of how we transport ourselves through life is fundamentally through separating ourselves from others?
Did you know that the average American only walks between 3,000 and 4,000 steps a day? Yikes. Not only is this statistic troubling for the physical health of our country, but it is particularly concerning for our county’s social health. With our car-centric culture, it is all too easy to depart our garages in our cars, drive for several miles, search for immediate parking in front of a strip mall retailer or box store, grab a few items off the shelf, ring ourselves up at the register (don’t get me started on self check out…) and return home, with very limited human interaction. And this story only plays out for the people who decide to shop in-person, rather than relying on online shopping and delivery services.
So, what is the answer? How can we better connect with our communities? How can we develop a culture of connectivity rather than isolation? Perhaps the answer is literally under our feet.
Rebecca Solnit, in her book, Wanderlust: A History of Walking (which I highly recommend), she writes, “many people nowadays live in a series of interiors...disconnected from each other. On foot everything stays connected, for while walking one occupies the spaces between those interiors in the same way one occupies those interiors. One lives in the whole world rather than in interiors built up against it.”
Walking is such a simple act. As humans, we’ve been doing it for millions of years, and yet, it remains one of the most impactful and transformational things we can do. Choosing to walk in one’s community removes the barrier of a windshield. It forces us to slow down and it creates an abundance of chance encounters.
Walking in your community might not help you find a best friend (although, it’s possible!), but it will allow you to increase your human interaction, learn more about your community, connect more with your community, and notice things that can only be noticed at 3 mph. To borrow an idea from Jane Jacobs, the “ballet of a city sidewalk” is a beautiful thing, and it allows us to interact with people from all walks of life (pun intended).
If you’re feeling lonely, and chances are that many of you reading this are, then ditch the car and explore your community on foot. Along the way, open your eyes, your ears, and your heart to the beauty of your community that can only be experienced at the speed of humanity.
