College Student Loneliness and Social Isolation Undermining Campus Engagement

Summary

College students today report dramatically higher rates of loneliness and social isolation than previous generations, spending far less time face-to-face with peers despite being surrounded by thousands of potential friends. The shift to remote learning, social media, and hyper-competitive extracurriculars has left students without the social skills and structures needed to form meaningful connections. University programming like clubs and events has failed to reverse this trend, leaving students disengaged, depressed, and less likely to persist. No effective tools or approaches exist to help students rebuild in-person social habits and combat the loneliness epidemic on campus.