Maybe the Real Clickbait is Pretending Loneliness isn’t Affecting our Health

Doctors are Prescribing Connection 🤝

The U.S. Surgeon General has declared loneliness an epidemic.

And Social Prescribing - referring patients to community-based activities that support wellbeing, is now recognized as a legitimate healthcare intervention.

Research demonstrates that connection impacts mental and physical health.

So when we uploaded our latest podcast episode to our favorite video-based podcasting platform (rhymes with TooCube) with titles about doctors prescribing connection and the loneliness epidemic… they were flagged as “clickbait.” But these things are objectively true.

Social prescribing has been shown to improve anxiety, depression, loneliness, and even support better physical health management.

So What’s the Problem?

Are we still uncomfortable talking openly about loneliness?

Are we resistant to admitting how profoundly relationships shape our wellbeing?

Does “connection” still sound too touchy-feely to be taken seriously even though the research supports it?

Ironically, the only thumbnail/title combination that seemed acceptable was the one about loneliness and art. Apparently “artists struggling with angst” is familiar territory. But connection as a health practice? That makes people uneasy. It's interesting what platforms consider controversial.

Maybe the real clickbait is pretending loneliness isn’t affecting our health.

Any thoughts? 

🎧 “Loneliness and the arts with Alex Rodriguez” on Connected with Jen and Shannon.

Follow Shannon Nothstine at HumanWell: A Connected Experience for more tools and inner capacities.

Jennifer Gerometta sees great communication, real connection, and lasting progress as inside-out work. As a PhD, coach, and former department chair, she supports professionals in growing the skills that matter most, and it gets better-more effective, more human, and more enjoyable-when you bring your full self to it. This post was originally posted May 22, 2026 and is cross-posted here with her permission. You can reach Jennifer via email here.

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Connected with Jen and Shannon