Sport Combatting Social Loneliness

By Dr Anne Marie Creaven

Different forms of loneliness

Laya’s commissioned research indicates that 93% of people surveyed believe loneliness is a problem in Ireland. But did you know that when people describe feelings of loneliness, they often describe two main types? Emotional loneliness is the feeling that we don’t have very close, emotionally meaningful relationships or friendships in our lives. We might have plenty of people to spend time with, but we don’t have a special person in our life that we feel especially close to. The other important type of loneliness is social loneliness. This is the feeling that we don’t have enough groups of people to spend time with, or that we don’t interact with others frequently enough. For many of us, sport can create the meaningful connections and long-lasting friendships that alleviate emotional loneliness. But most importantly, sport can create the connections that alleviate social loneliness, for all of us.

How can sport combat social loneliness?

Sport can tackle social loneliness in lots of ways. Laya’s commissioned research reports that feeling disconnected from people around you is a contributor to loneliness for 44% of survey respondents. This is one way sport can help. Part of the power of sport is in the shared sense of purpose that brings people together. When you are involved in sport, as a player, or a volunteer, as a coach, referee, or spectator, you are involved in something bigger than yourself. Whether you are maintaining the pitch, arranging the carpool, or getting ready to line out, there is a collective purpose there that allows you to feel part of something. This can be very powerful for social loneliness – whether or not you are playing on the team, you are part of a team. You are part of a group, you have an identity as a member of this group, and the evidence suggests that group membership is protective for loneliness.

Sport can combat social loneliness in other ways. Being involved in sport comes not just with sport but with a social calendar. It provides us with events and activities to participate in, whatever our level of participation. This social participation takes us away from settings where we are likely to feel lonely, and right into the environments that alleviate loneliness. For example, Laya’s commissioned research indicates that feelings of loneliness were most likely when people were alone, or at home, but sport takes us right into the social settings where loneliness is less likely. Similarly, Laya’s research found that not having enough social events or activities to attend contributed to loneliness for nearly 40% of people, but sport provides an immediate antidote to that.

How else can sport combat loneliness?

There is another way sport can combat loneliness.  Although emotionally close and meaningful relationships are absolutely important in alleviating loneliness, it’s important not to overlook the benefits of our more casual connections too. Sometimes these are called “weak” social connections (in contrast to our “strong” connections). These “weak” connections are casual acquaintances or strangers we see relatively frequently – a friend of a friend, a neighbour we wave to when we pass, or a fellow commuter taking the same route. In a sports context, these weak ties might be the players on the opposing team, our fellow supporters travelling up to the match, or the families and friends of our team-mates, that we haven’t gotten to know very well, yet. However, there is a surprising power in these “weak” connections.

One reason “weak” connections can be powerful is that some of these weak connections can become stronger connections over time. After all, every friendship has a starting point. Over time, some supposedly weak connections can become stronger, transforming into genuine and meaningful friendships.

Weak connections are powerful for another reason – for many of us, most of our daily interactions, are with weak rather than strong connections. Every time we salute a neighbour or thank the bus driver, we are having a very minimal social interaction with a “weak” connection. These interactions add up, meaning that these interactions with “weak” ties add up to a surprisingly hefty chunk of our total interactions in the day. Sport provides opportunities to make many “weak” connections, as a player, volunteer, referee, spectator, or superfan. Some of these weak connections will transform into lifelong friendships, and many will not, and that’s OK.  If you’re involved in sport, you are likely adding a lot of these weak connections to your day, and to your life. Banter with the person next to you in the stand, or volunteering to arrange the carpool to the next match, are small interactions with people outside your closest circle, but they add up.

Social loneliness is a very common form of loneliness – but the being part of something bigger than yourself, having a ready-made social calendar, and harnessing the power of weak ties, are just some of the ways sport can help.