If you feel lonely living in BC, you aren’t alone, and a new survey reveals just how lonely people are feeling ahead of Blue Monday.
NextDoor, an app you may have heard of, conducted an in-app survey of hundreds of users and found some lonely results.
The study revealed that more than 50 percent of 340 BC residents that were polled “feel some kind of loneliness (between somewhat and very lonely). “
While 340 residents aren’t exactly reflective of a province of over 5 million, some other data corroborates what the app found.
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The survey results might not be surprising for most BC people in cities like Vancouver. Even some Vancouver-based organizations have tried to make the city less lonely and more spontaneous.
Many conversations on social media have also reflected on Vancouver as a “lonely city.”
A November 2023 report from the Toronto Foundation sheds additional light on how lonely Vancouverites feel. Twenty-three per cent of Vancouver residents who responded to the report said they felt lonely for more than three days in the last week.
A less recent survey focused explicitly on Vancouver from the Vancouver Foundation also saw similar results about how many people in the city experience feeling lonely or isolated.
“One in four people feel alone more often than they would like,” the survey found.
Considering the report was conducted before the pandemic, the numbers are likely higher now with how COVID-19 has impacted social connections.
The in-app study from Next Door comes ahead of Blue Monday, also known as the most depressing day of the year.
Do you feel lonely living here? Let us know in the comments.
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