Study on the Effects of Social Isolation in Canada and Possible Approaches to Solve It

Introduction

Background and Problem Statement

Social isolation is multidimensional. It is defined as a state in which the individual have complete and sometimes near-complete lack of social contact with the society. It is different from loneliness, which reflects temporary lack of contact with other persons in the world. Lack of social contact can affect people of any age, but symptoms of social isolation differ by the age group. In India, there is social interaction among people, and people share their feelings and thoughts with each other that help them decreasing their stress level for work and other things.

However, in Canada, as I have noticed there is lack of social contact between individuals. They have few social contacts and few social roles, as well as absence of mutually rewarding relationships with other people. The absence of social contact in Canada is because everyone is busy in their own work or studies, nobody have time to interact with friends, neighbours or relatives. Other reasons behind lack of social interaction can be family crisis, unemployment or loss of spouse. Therefore, I decided to write a proposal on this topic because the people having social isolation can have psychological and health dysfunctions. These dysfunctions can make people lonely, anxious and depressed (Jonason, Webster, Lindsey, 2008).

Exploring Solutions

Well, there are many ways to solve the problem of social isolations. They can be solved by:

• Spending time with friends and family members.
• By volunteering and communicating international people, that is by joining the social activities and meeting new individuals.
• Using social media apps for connecting with thousands of people.
• Visiting at other’s place
• Having healthy diet and exercise.

Scope of Research

According to the article “Canada’s Loneliest People”, written by Campbell M on June 22nd, 2018, he stated that more than twenty-five percent of thee humans are socially isolated. People have no children and neighbour share their feelings with.

Many people in Canada spend their life without talking with others for several weeks and months (Sneath R.).People who are sixty-five or above that are often known as “elder orphans”, that is individuals who are physically and/or socially isolated and have no children or spouse to live with. In Canada, these individuals live in cities but they are not able to leave their homes because of physical or social issues. These people become the most loneliest, less mobile and more isolated only because they do not interact with other people. The gender who likely to suffer most from social isolation is women who have more life expectancy than man does. But there are some cases when people with families become isolated, the reason behind this is that sometimes they lose their spouse (Campbell M, 2018).

According to article, “A Profile of Social Isolation in Canada”, written by Keefe J.,Andrew M., Fancey P. &Hall M., the reasons behind social isolation in Canada can be socio-economic or cultural factors, or by physical, social or psychological mechanisms. The main contributors for social isolation are widowhood or divorce, education, culture, health or income. Social structure like social networking and support can also affect any individual’s psychological well-being (Keefe j et al.).

Limitations

Well, social interaction plays a significant role in the lives of people as it affect the social as well as physical well-being of any individual suffering from lack of social interaction. There are many limitations of social isolation and these are written below:

1. Vulnerable to inner critics: Self-isolation can make people fall into negative and self-critical thoughts. Not only being alone can make us to think negative, but also feeling lonely can make us feel worst. During that time, our inner critics say that there is something with ourselves, and we are our own enemies.
2. Depression: spending time alone and feeling all the time can result into depression, that is, according to biological studies, our neural responses for the positive images and events gets supressed, and our world of imagination and thoughts is perceived through negativity. We imagine that everything is hopeless and it makes us very difficult to cope up with energy and bravery to search for happiness and change.
3. Bad health: loneliness for a long time of duration can result into bad physical health. According to the studies, it is found that lack of social contact with others and loneliness can increase the chances of mortality by 30%. Researchers studies that social interaction is important for emotional, psychological and physical well-being of an individual, and also for overall longevity.
4. Painful Loneliness: Well, one can enjoy sitting lonely, but social isolation can make people feel lonelier while spending time alone. Feeling lonely can make individuals to feel unloved and unlikeable, and it is painful for physical as well as emotional level (Firestone L).

Main Body

Proposed Approach

• The first and simplest way to avoid social isolation is to spend time with friends and family members. Regular activities with family and friends can make a long way to combat the feeling of social isolation. The people who suffer most from social isolation are the people who are physically disabled, so it is the social duty of the family member to spend some part of their time with them, and taking them along outside their home sometimes.
• The second solution to tackle with social isolation is by joining the social parties or activities like volunteering. It is a great way to interact with new people of different age groups. Through volunteering, individuals will communicate with people belonging to other cultures, religions and traditions, and this will help them to reduce their some level of stress or depression. Moreover, they will get to know about the other cultures and traditions as well.
• One can use social media like Facebook to have contact with thousands of friends and family members sitting miles away from you. Especially the international students who feel homesickness can communicate with their relatives through social media.
• Visiting relatives or friend’s place can also help in reducing the social isolation, and can make people live happily.
• Having a regular and healthy diet can help some sort of stress and depression in i=the individuals suffering from social isolation. Exercising regularly will maintain socio-isolated people physically and psychologically.

Review of Argument

When I was living in India, I used to interact with lots of people like my friends, neighbours and relatives. People used to visit their homes to spend some time with each other and do some kind of activities for having fun like kitty parties. There was a lot of social interaction among people but in Canada, I have noticed that there is lack of social contact between individuals. Everyone is busy in his/her own work, no one have time spend even with his or her parents because of which people are becoming socially isolated. The reasons behind this can be like losing spouse, physically disabled, death of loved ones, widowed, or not having child. In India, if anyone is having physical disability, s/he is not remained left in the house because there is always someone to take care of her/him. But in Canada, as I mentioned above no one have enough time to spend with their family members, so people are not dependent on others, due to which sometimes they may feel lonely.

For example, there are many international students studying all over Canada, and they feel homesickness because they cannot share their emotions and feelings with anyone else here. I want you to read my proposal because there are many disadvantages of social isolation as it can affect an individual socially, emotionally, physically, and psychologically. Social interaction with other people will help us to be more happy and healthy because it will decrease our stress level from both work and studies.