The global "epidemic" of loneliness: measures of state support for single people

Korsun Ksenia Ivanovna ORCID: 0000-0003-4160-7338 Lecturer, Department of Constitutional and International Law, Ural State University of Economics 620144, Russia, Sverdlovsk region, Yekaterinburg, 8 Marta str./narodnaya Volya, 62/45, office 750 korsunksenia@mail.ru Other publications by this author

Zadorina Mariya Andreevna PhD in Law Associate professor, Department of Constitutional and International Law, Ural State University of Economics 620144, Russia, Sverdlovsk region, Yekaterinburg, 8 Marta str./narodnaya Volya, 62/45, office 750 zadorina@bk.ru Other publications by this author

The modern world is developing at a rapid pace. Every day, world scientists develop and implement new technologies that make it possible to improve all spheres of society's life, increase its comfort and safety, improve well-being, and give unlimited opportunities for self-realization. Today, absolutely all spheres of human life are somehow connected with the virtual space: family; home; work; entertainment; hobbies; communication. Many state and political institutions are moving to an online format (elections, judicial proceedings, etc.).

For several decades now, scientists around the world have been providing disappointing data on the devastating impact of scientific and technological progress on the environment. In addition, the development of modern technologies poses a threat of a different nature.

The modern era of digitalization and the use of the Internet has made the sociocommunicative space limitless, in an insubstantial, virtual environment in which the communication process proceeds continuously and uninterrupted ^{[1, p. 77]}. As international researchers rightly point out, digital literacy, the dominance of virtual rather than personal communication, has led to total loneliness ^{[2, p. 8]}. For a person as a social being, the desire for positive, constructive communication is a natural need, and social networks fully meet these needs. Transferring your life into a virtual environment, and pretty embellished, and receiving reciprocal approval, gives a person a false sense of relevance and significance. Today it is much easier to find friends and support in the virtual world than to establish relationships in real life. Social networks and other digitalization products are used by many political leaders as an additional tool for accepting informal appeals from citizens and as a means of enhancing their image. This is largely due to the fact that the digital virtual environment blurs the boundaries of communication, without seeing the interlocutor directly, it is much easier to establish communication and gain trust.

However, life in the virtual space takes a lot of time and effort, and live communication practically disappears, remaining only in the working (school or student) team. Modern scientists studying digital technologies and their impact on the human psyche unanimously assert that the Internet gives only the illusion of communication, masking the total loneliness of its users ^[3-5]. Today, the term "digital loneliness" has even appeared, meaning withdrawal from reality and the absence of genuine relationships with other people. In the era of digital domination and the opportunity to study, work, have fun, communicate with the whole world, express their civic position without leaving home, people have no one to talk to "heart to heart". The era of digitalization has created an "epidemic" of loneliness.

Within the framework of this article, using general, private scientific and special legal methods of scientific cognition to study scientific works of Russian and foreign scientists, normative and program documents, information and analytical materials of authorities and organizations, we will try to solve the following tasks: 1) to study the experience of foreign countries in solving the problem of loneliness at the national level; 2) to identify the prerequisites for the emergence of the problem of loneliness in Russia; 3) to offer recommendations for solving this problem.

It is worth noting that the problems of loneliness have been widely studied by representatives of economic, sociological, psychological, pedagogical and medical sciences. However, this problem has not yet come into the focus of legal scholars' attention.

T. Nordin, A. S. Lundgren, I. Nilsson define loneliness as "a painful, self-identified experience characterized by a discrepancy between the actual and desired interpersonal relationships of a person" ^{[6, p. 1]}.

It is interesting to note that in the scientific community, marital status, living conditions and social environment are most often called predictors of loneliness ^[7], social isolation ^[8], low level of digital technology proficiency ^[9]. At the same time, no one takes into account the political and legal factor.

In the modern world, loneliness is becoming not only a social disease, but also a political problem. The first country to talk about the problem of loneliness at the state level was the United Kingdom, which created the Ministry of Loneliness in 2018. As noted by G. Moore, S. Fardghassemi, H. Joffe, loneliness affects not only the elderly, but also young people. In their opinion, young people are the loneliest age group in the UK and other Western countries ^{[10, p. 1]}. The main reason for the creation of the new department is the formal approach of government agencies providing social services to the population, as well as low awareness of the population about support measures that can be obtained during acute crisis situations. In addition to the creation of a separate authority, whose activities are aimed at solving the problem of loneliness, a network of non-governmental organizations providing social services to the population, including elderly citizens, has been developed in the UK ^{[11, p. 263]}.

Japan, following the United Kingdom, called loneliness a state problem and a threat to modern society. In 2021, the country established a Ministry for the Affairs of Single people. The problem of loneliness in Japan is primarily associated with a high life expectancy, as well as the fact that in families, only one of the spouses most often lives to a respectable age. In this regard, the Japanese authorities call a separate problem "kodokushi" – death alone ^{[12, p. 3]}. In addition, isolation and lack of "live communication" during the COVID-19 pandemic provoked a sharp increase in suicides in Japan ^[13]. According to the idea of the authorities, the Ministry of Single People's Affairs is designed to solve public problems related to the aging of society, low birth rate and suicide. It is noteworthy that the main means of solving them is the use of artificial intelligence, with which, for example, it will be possible to find a suitable couple and thereby increase the birth rate in Japan.

In 2023, two states have already brought the problem of loneliness to the state level. In April 2023, South Korea launched a government program to help single people. Social isolation and loneliness are widespread in this country, which cause depression, symptoms of social phobia and suicidal tendencies in the population ^[14]. The essence of the implementation of the new government program will be to stimulate unsociable youth leading a reclusive lifestyle to socialization. To do this, the South Korean authorities have introduced monthly payments to young people of the "risk group", which will allow unsociable youth to integrate into society. In addition to solving the problem of loneliness among young people, this government program, according to the plan of the South Korean authorities, should increase the birth rate.

In October 2023, the German authorities introduced the position of Commissioner for Loneliness. As expected, the specialist will be engaged in the development and implementation of projects aimed at combating loneliness. This problem, as noted by German scientists, has become widespread in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic ^[15].

An analysis of regulatory and policy documents related to working with lonely people has shown that in foreign countries they are trying to solve the problem of loneliness in various ways. Firstly, it is financial support for the population at risk. Secondly, it is the organization of social assistance to citizens living alone. Thirdly, it is the introduction of virtual technologies for dating. On the one hand, these measures will certainly be able to stimulate some part of single people to get to know someone and spend time together. On the other hand, there is no guarantee that the allocated funds will be spent as intended, that the developed software products for dating will be in demand among the population, and there is also no guarantee that assistance to single citizens will not be formal.

It is worth noting that in Russia, the problem of loneliness has been discussed by federal government authorities for several years now. So, in October 2022, the representative of the LDPR party, Sergei Leonov, made a proposal to the State Duma to create an Agency for Loneliness ^[16]. According to the initiators, the main tasks of the Agency's creation are the development of programs of psychological support for citizens and the provision of public primary psychological care. The initiative focuses specifically on the accessibility of primary psychological care, since currently the majority of the population in Russia does not know the channels for receiving it. It was also noted that often in Russia, psychological assistance is associated with something negative among the population, which is required only by unhealthy people with mental disorders. The accessibility of primary psychological care, as conceived by the authors, will allow you to get away from negative associations in this regard. At the same time, the initiators insist that these tasks should be solved precisely by the Agency, a hotel body in the executive power system, and not transferred to the currently existing social services due to their excessive workload. Anyway, to date, the Agency for Loneliness remains only a specified idea that has not found support among parliamentarians.

A new attempt to talk about loneliness as an all-Russian demographic and political problem took place in May 2023, when Vice Speaker of the State Duma Vladislav Davankov sent an appeal to Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Tatyana Golikova with a proposal to launch a separate federal project to combat loneliness as part of the national project "Demography" ^[17]. However, it is worth noting that the goals of creating this federal project are much less significant than those proposed a year earlier. The authors announced the following initiatives: launching leisure sites for different ages; stimulating the development of digital dating services (to replace Tinder, which left Russia); creating regional and municipal support programs for single people. We believe that the creation of virtual leisure sites and, moreover, digital dating services will only exacerbate social isolation.

However, data from the All–Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion indicate that Russians do not have problems related to loneliness: in 2021, 23% of Russians felt lonely, while 19% experience this feeling from time to time, and 4% constantly, 76% did not feel lonely in the last six months ^[18]. In this regard, a natural question arises: if such a prosperous situation has developed in Russia, why is the natural population growth decreasing annually, and the number of divorces is increasing?

The global "epidemic" of loneliness carries many threats, one of the most obvious is the demographic crisis. According to Rosstat, 1 million 306 thousand 162 babies were born in 2022, 1 million 905 thousand 778 people died, the birth rate decreased by 6.9% compared to 2021 ^[19]. At the same time, the forecast given by Rosstat is even more depressing: by 2043, the population of Russia will decrease by more than 7 million people, natural growth consistently holds negative indicators, while migration growth is projected to be positive (Table 1).

Table 1 – Population change in the Russian Federation, thousands of people ^[20]

Another manifestation of the demographic crisis is the annual increase in the number of divorces. Official statistics show that in Russia they have completely forgotten how to build families: only 35% of registered marriages remain, while 65% of families break up (Table 2) ^[20]. According to Table 2, it can be seen that the number of divorces in 2022 is 3% higher than the same indicator in 1995. Consequently, more families are currently breaking up than in one of the most difficult periods in the history of modern Russia, when the standard of living of the population and the level of economic development were extremely low. The growth rate of the number of divorces in 2022 compared to the previous year was almost 6%.

Table 2 – The number of marriages and divorces in the Russian Federation, units ^[20]

According to a large-scale study by Japanese and British scientists covering more than 70 countries of the world, every 9th teenager suffers from loneliness ^{[21, p. 906]}. The problem of loneliness of teenage people in Russia is evidenced by the increase in cases of bullying in educational institutions. The recent tragedy in one of the Bryansk schools, where a schoolgirl from a full family, who was not registered, shot at her classmates, and then committed suicide, became the 14th case in the last eleven years and the 1st case when a girl took up arms.

All of the above indicates that modern society has completely forgotten how to "live communication", to establish sociocommunicative ties and build strong and long-term relationships. In many ways, this was the result of a departure from reality into the digital space, the lack of publicly available psychological help that is so necessary for modern people, but most importantly – the global devaluation of the institution of the family, the cultivation of a free, tolerant society incapable of compassion and participation in the life of its neighbor, as well as the lack of a clearly structured state social policy aimed at supporting psychologically and socially lonely people.

In October 2023, the Department of Constitutional and International Law of the Ural State University of Economics organized a focus group with representatives of the scientific community, authorities and human rights organizations dedicated to the problem of loneliness in Russia. Experts were very skeptical about the need to introduce a specialized authority for loneliness in Russia. In their opinion, the problem of loneliness should not be solved only within the framework of the national Demography project. This is a complex problem that also affects the education and health sectors. As a preventive measure, experts suggested the need to develop a system of school psychological assistance and open appropriate support centers in higher educational institutions. For example, at universities where psychologists, psychiatrists and social workers are trained, it is possible to open socio-psychological centers where everyone could receive advice (including information) provided by an undergraduate student under the guidance of a curator-teacher. This practice is widely developed in higher education institutions that train lawyers. Legal clinics operate on the basis of such educational institutions. It seems that the opening of socio-psychological centers based on universities that train psychologists, psychiatrists and social workers would prevent more than one tragedy and help many people who do not know where to turn in a difficult life situation and what types of support can be obtained. Experts also pointed to another area of work on the issue of loneliness, which will be in high demand in the near future. This is working with citizens who have participated in combat operations and military operations, who cannot adapt to normal life and feel lonely. In addition, the experts expressed the idea of the need to improve the legal regulation of issues of working with single people, as well as the existing model of interdepartmental interaction between authorities engaged in public administration in the social sphere.

In conclusion, I would like to note that the problem of loneliness in many foreign countries has acquired a national character, as a result of which specialized collegial or sole authorities have been established there, whose activities are aimed at supporting lonely people of different ages. In Russia, the issue of this problem has been repeatedly raised by some federal officials, but has not received due attention, despite the negative dynamics of the birth rate, marriages and an increase in cases of bullying in educational institutions. In this regard, the State should strengthen measures to support the population in difficult life situations. It is not only the elderly who can be lonely, who have no relatives and friends left. People of different ages can be lonely, including young people, even if they have family and relatives. Therefore, the authorities responsible for public administration in the social sphere need to develop a program to support single people, providing work not only with elderly citizens, but also with full and single-parent families who are experiencing life difficulties, men who have served in the military, as well as with children, who are the most important priority of Russian state policy.