I heard a story on the radio on the way home. They did an enormous survey in Oz on loneliness. They found that in the 25/45 age group one in three people rated loneliness as a major problem in their lives.
That was at an age when people tend to have the greatest density of people in their lives: work, social circle, families etc. They theorised it was because modern inter-personal relationships are less secure.
Most surprisingly, adolescents and the elderly were markedly less lonely than those in the 25-45 age bracket. They said that was an Australian phenomenon though.
Is it burnin'? Well, f-ck, now you're learnin'.