„Einsam, erschreckend und beängstigend“: Umfragen zufolge fühlen sich 70 % der Studenten in britischen Universitätshallen isoliert
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2025/dec/17/students-uk-university-halls-isolated-lonely-poll-shows
Von StGuthlac2025
13 Kommentare
This surprises me because with social media they all go to uni knowing the people they are going to live with. In the pre Facebook days I walked in on that first day to 7 strangers
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People leave home and go to another city, don’t know anyone, shocker.
If this is indeed the case than it is entirely true that a whole generation has grown up not knowing how to socialise due to Covid and phone addiction.
This is going to lead to major issues down the line and is also why we are seeing such pressure on mental health services. Not a clue how to fix this, other than to say:
If you are one of these students, please engage with the Students Union, join soxieties, overcome your fears.
Your uni time is supposed to be the time of your life, it’s when you can and should experiment, make mistakes, find yourself. Don’t tell yourself anything other.
This is actually insane. Uni halls were barely 10 years ago the place where practically no one was alone. Massive social hubs. Constant social events.
It’s so weird and tbh we have graduates at work who basically sit in silence at lunch ignoring each other whereas before they’d be at least chatting or meeting after work.
It’s interesting how in a world where we’ve never been more connected people are feeling more alone. It’s almost as if online connections don’t translate into real life. When I was a student there was no end to social events going on. There was a constant buzz of activity among students.
I went to uni halls just before smartphones became a thing. I’m also incredibly socially anxious and prefer not to interact with strangers. To add to that, when I started uni I was teetotal for the first semester.
Despite that, during Freshers I met hundreds of people and ended up with 3 discrete groups of „friends“ that I slowly winnowed down to 1 over the first year. This isn’t because I was secretly a social genius, but because it was made exceptionally easy for us – so many social events and societies organised – and we had nothing else to do.
I have no doubt were I to enter uni today I’d be one of those 1/3 who always feel isolated. Phones and COVID have a lot to answer for.
This is what happens when you let phones raise your kids. They’re terrified of talking to people.
So the person they are talking to in the article admits to not trying to make new friends and just kept up contact with those at home. And then wonders why she felt lonely and isolated.
University life is what you make of it. If you put nothing in expect nothing out.
Its going to be unnerving at first for almost anyone who goes there. They are young and its likely the first time they have lived away from home so hardly surprising they are going to feel a bit anxious at first.
But if they don’t make friends its not because of a lack of opportunity. There are loads of activities, clubs, societies etc and then the other students on course itself. All of which you can make friends through. If you cant then the barriers are with the individual for whatever reason.
Is there comparative research from decades previous? I occasionally feel “lonely or isolated” even though I run a company, have a family, and a close group of friends. And I think I felt it even more keenly at university age. Sometimes feeling lonely seems to me quite a normal thing, not necessarily indicative of some monstrous failing of society.
Phones and social media are to blame. Bans for under 16 should be in place.
Halls have changed. Admittedly I am old.
When I was at my halls if you lived there you could go anywhere in them. There were over 500 people living there and in the first days no one knew each other, so you just sort of wandered around and went into rooms if the door was propped open and you liked the music. That’s how we all got to know each other. We all also got food at set times in a central canteen too, so we met there.
I had to go back there in my 3rd year for – I can’t even remember why – but I had to meet someone- and discovered they’d put swipe card things on all the internal doors and your room key only allowed you to get to your room. You couldn’t get to other parts of the building you lived in anymore. For security. I thought that was a massive downgrade. They also changed the food so it was more a rolling buffet where you could get food anytime rather than the evening meal being served in a 2 hour slot.
Since then social media has happened. I’d imagine it’s now significantly easier to sit in your room and try to stay in touch with people you already know but no longer see (friends from sixth form etc) than try to meet people at uni. So I suppose that is what is happening. Hundreds of young people desperately lonely sat in small rooms next to other people who are desperately lonely. All messaging other people.
Our university sector is one of the few things we have left going for us as a country. Yet the narrative from both media and politicians over recent years seems to be running the places down. From pricing many young people out of the option altogether, to saying things like „Do an apprenticeship instead, it’s just as good“ and now „Don’t go to university, you’ll be lonely.“
Combined with the massive cuts most universities are making to their own academic staff, it feels like another concerted attempt to destroy one of the areas where we are genuinely world leaders.