WOLFF: You and others are writing these days that loneliness is a large and growing problem,
social problem in the United States. What kind of forces are producing a loneliness problem?
FRAAD: Well, I think it is indeed true. Lonely people die sooner. That's all backed up. Lonely
people get sick more often. Human beings were designed as pack animals. We have developed.
We are not the swiftest. We don't have the best eyesight or hearing. We're not the strongest,
but we can cooperate. And from the earliest times, people needed to be together to survive. People
were together. That has changed and one of the huge sources of capitalism- I mean of loneliness-
is capitalism because in the first place, it's lonely to feel ripped off, like nobody cares.
No one will hire you unless they're making more money off of your labor
than they're ever giving you. So, there's a sense of 'Uh-oh, I'm being ripped off'. Then,
you hear about crime in the streets which is scary, but you never hear about the
crimes that rip you off most and make you most lonely: bank fines, interest rates,
going through an outrageous bureaucracy to get your unemployment insurance, over-charges,
people denying you your wages or extending your hours at work. They're all rip-offs,
and you feel invisible because nobody cares. It's one of the reasons that people now are
outraged and joining unions because they know that they're not cared for.
They're not cared for when they're sick. The employer doesn't care if you're going to die. At
Amazon, one of the things that got Chris Smalls- the most well-known organizer of the Amazon
Labor Union- what got him started was fear. When cases of COVID appeared at the Amazon warehouse,
they weren't acknowledged at first. People weren't given sufficient gloves,
masks, hand sanitizers. They were subjected to a deadly disease.
WOLFF: Would you say that loneliness is one of those feelings
that we in America tend to turn inward, in other words blame ourselves if we're feeling lonely
rather than see it as the social problem, as something coming out of an economic system the
way you've just been talking? Is that something that adds to the difficulty of loneliness?
FRAAD: Absolutely. What we have is a lot of expensive, profitable wellness industries
and a culture that teaches you, 'If you have a problem, it's because you made bad choices.
It's something personal. It's something about you.' It's not, 'You're disconnected' which is
the primary source of loneliness is disconnection from other people, 'Join a union. Join a group,
even if it's the PTA. Connect with other people.' No, no, no, no.
'You've made bad choices. You come from an inadequate family. You
have a problem.' Not, 'We are together in this and society has a lot to do with your loneliness.'
WOLFF: I learned recently that England, a country not so different from the United States,
has in fact officially recognized loneliness as a major social problem and that it has
created a whole ministry, like there's a ministry of defense, a ministry for loneliness.
FRAAD: Well, the governments who have universal health care and who appreciate the strong
connection between loneliness and ill health are recognizing it and doing something about it if
they can. And I think England has recognized it. I don't know what they're doing about it,
but they've recognized it. Now, what can people do? Well, the first thing is connect.
Mental health is like a four-legged table. One leg is personal connection with people who really
care about you, somebody who if you say you have a headache, really is concerned you have a headache.
Another is slightly-more-connected personal connections. Even somebody you don't see
very often but when you talk to them, you have a real bond. Then there's a third leg which are
the people with whom you are friendly in your neighborhood: walking your dog, all the rest.
Then, the fourth one is the wider connection you feel to your government, to what happens to you,
to the world, to the bigger issues like climate, or racial justice or sexual justice.
Those are all important and I think the United States has ignored them completely,
but workers haven't. And that's one of the reasons there is a union drive across this nation.