A majority of Americans report that they would like more emotional support.

Interacting electronically affects our social connections and expectations.

Social support comes in different flavors and meets different needs.

As many as 69 percent of Americans don’t feel they are getting enough emotional support. There are several reasons for this discrepancy. Participation in organized activities, including religious gatherings, is on the decline, and many communities lack accessible public or civic venues where people can routinely meet. While electronic forms of communication can facilitate connections, they also make it easier to stay home and to avoid personal encounters. Rising numbers of Americans also live alone, and only half of us say we live within an hour's drive of extended family members. The result is that many of us feel lonely, even when surrounded by people.

Our dissatisfaction with our social support may also be influenced by exposure to social media. In our media-driven world, it is easy to feel that other people are doing more or having more fun than we are, which can negatively affect our mood and mental states. Of course, we don’t know what people in other eras thought of their social support because we weren’t tracking those factors then. But we do know that higher expectations also afford more opportunities for disappointment.

Regardless of the causes for our loneliness, it behooves us to think about what we need and how we might do a better job of connecting, as individuals and as a society. This is not a simple process since different situations require different types of support. While classifications of social support vary across studies and theories, psychologists Carolyn Cutrona and Daniel Russell postulate five........

© Psychology Today