More than 3m home-working Brits are lonely while 1m have not spoken to anyone in last ten days
The rise of working from home is adding to loneliness with more than three million people who do this claiming it means they don’t see other people very often, according to fresh data shared with City A.M. today.
Its nationwide study found nearly one in three adults say they suffer from being lonely and one in four of them (26 per cent) say it has a seriously negative impact on their mental health, new research from digital board game group Marmalade Game Studio.
More than half of those who suffer from loneliness say it is because they don’t have many close friends while 28 per cent say it is because they live alone. However, 20 per cent say working from home has added to their loneliness.
Mental health is a major issue among those who suffer from being lonely – around two-fifths (38 per cent) of those who describe themselves as lonely say their mental health issues add to their loneliness. This is in turn has an impact on their mental wellbeing.
Around 89 per cent who describe themselves as lonely say it has a negative impact on their mental health while 13 per cent say it has no impact.
The research for Marmalade Game Studio, which publishes popular digital board games such as Monopoly, Taboo, Cluedo and Jumanji, found 70 per cent of those who describe themselves as lonely speak to an average of three or fewer family members or friends on an average weekly basis.
Cristina Mereuta, co-CEO at Marmalade Game Studio, said: “Working from home has inevitably increased as a result of the COVID-19 crisis and while for many it means more time with family, it clearly also adds to isolation for others.
“Staying connected with friends and family is important for mental health with one in four adults admitting loneliness has a seriously negative impact on their mental health.”
The table below shows how many days in the past month people have not spoken to anyone.
| How many days in past month not spoken to anyone? | Number of Brits who answered Yes |
| 25 to 30 | 414,00 |
| 20 to 25 | 155,000 |
| 15 to 20 | 465,750 |
| 11 to 15 | 621,000 |
| 10 | 983,270 |