‘Friendship recession’ is ravaging our mental and physical health. Here’s how we fight against it together.

Jay Height It’s been called the friendship recession. And it’s having devastating consequences on our emotional, mental and physical health. Recent surveys indicate that Americans have significantly fewer close friends on average and are much more likely to say they have no close friends than in previous decades. The friendship recession is so severe that U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy has declared that the surge in Americans’ loneliness and isolation is a public health crisis. In May, Murthy issued an advisory noting that loneliness can wreck both our bodies and our minds, more than doubling adults’ and children’s risk of depression, driving up the risk of a person’s premature death by 60%, and significantly increasing the likelihood of heart disease, strokes and dementia. Murthy isn’t alone in raising the alarm about our social isolation.& An American Perspectives Survey in 2021 found that Americans have fewer close friendships, talk to friends less often and receive less support from friends than in previous years. The loss of friendships is driven by several factors, including declines in marriages rates, church attendance and memberships in civic organizations such as Kiwanis and Rotary.& The idea that it’s not good for a person to be...