The number of people living alone in the UK has doubled in 40 years to a greater number than at any time in our history. Feelings of loneliness and isolation are prevalent in densely-populated as well as rural areas, and a recent study suggested that loneliness can be as bad for your health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. Recent surveys have discovered that loneliness is an issue that's now impacting negatively on the lives of Britons of all ages. Two hundred thousand pensioners in Britain said they went for more than a month without a single conversation with friends or family. Teenagers, meanwhile, feel isolated because of social media, which it's claimed is feeding a future mental health crisis.