Many of us have people always around us. Most of us also have access to more people than ever before, by way of friends and followers on social media platforms. Yet many of us find ourselves desperately lonely.  

Loneliness makes it so much harder when life says no. Having no one with whom we can share our circumstances exacerbates the pain of our troubling situations. Now, simply having people in our lives does not guarantee they will be people we can trust. Just having a family does not always mean they will understand what we are experiencing. Even married couples find themselves wondering how much to share with each other, perhaps thinking that silence will spare the spouse the burden of worry.  

It seems as if the more we are connected, the more loneliness we experience. Why is that?