look at all the lonely people

today i heard about a scientific study of loneliness. here is what they found:

1. loneliness and being alone are not at all the same thing. people who are alone are not necessarily lonely, and people who have spouses, children, friends, etc., are not necessarily NOT lonely. anyone over the age of 12 did not need a scientist to tell them this.

2. loneliness is contagious. a person who is lonely raises the "loneliness scores" of their friends and families just by being around them. if you have ever had a friend, sister, mother, spouse, or anyone else around who was suffering from loneliness, you didn't need a scientist to tell you this.

3. the two things i would like a scientist to tell me about loneliness, i.e. how to avoid it, and how to help someone stop being it, were two of the things this study did not address. go figure.