The 7th International Loneliness Symposium held at Üsküdar University under the theme “Youth and Loneliness”

President of Üsküdar University Prof. Nevzat Tarhan said, “We are lonely because we have lost the sense of friendship. We need the wisdom of Anatolia and a synthesis of Eastern wisdom with Western scientific knowledge. Only in this way can this problem be solved.”

Rector of Üsküdar University Prof. Nazife Güngör said, “We are experiencing a strange sense of isolation and disconnection. Even worse, we have started to take pleasure in loneliness.”

Sociologist Prof. Ebulfez Süleymanlı said, “Our aim here is not to reinforce an approach that accepts loneliness as fate, but to strengthen an understanding that addresses it as a social issue that can be transformed.”

Organized this year by Üsküdar University under the theme “Youth and Loneliness,” the “7th International Loneliness Symposium” was held at the Nermin Tarhan Conference Hall of the Main Campus.

The opening speeches of the symposium were delivered by President of Üsküdar University Prof. Nevzat Tarhan, Rector Prof. Nazife Güngör, and Chairman of the Symposium Organizing Committee Prof. Ebulfez Süleymanlı.

Loneliness is a major danger awaiting humanity in the future

President of Üsküdar University Prof. Nevzat Tarhan stated that the main reason for bringing the issue of loneliness to the agenda was their awareness of a major danger awaiting humanity in the future. He said, “We are holding the seventh Loneliness Symposium. As a psychiatrist, I felt the need to raise this issue because we see the serious danger that loneliness poses for the future.” Drawing attention to the concept of the “California Syndrome,” which is increasingly discussed in the literature today, Prof. Tarhan said, “This syndrome has four main symptoms. The first symptom of the California Syndrome is hedonism, meaning a pleasure-oriented philosophy of life. Aristotle actually pointed this out 2,500 years ago. There are two types of happiness. One is hedonic happiness, meaning pleasure-based happiness. The other is eudaimonic happiness, meaning happiness based on meaning.”

“A person can only be truly happy when pursuing meaning”

Stating that the neurobiological counterparts of pleasure based and meaning based happiness have also been revealed, Prof. Tarhan emphasized that modern life neglects meaning based happiness and said, “Pleasure based happiness is associated with dopamine in the brain. It is short term and temporary. Meaning based happiness is associated with serotonin. It is released more slowly but is more lasting. The capitalist system has favored hedonic happiness and neglected meaning-based happiness. However, a person can only be truly happy when pursuing meaning.”

Referring to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, Prof. Tarhan drew attention to an important point that had long been overlooked in psychology. He stated, “Shortly before his death, Maslow placed ‘self-transcendence,’ not ‘self-actualization,’ at the top of the hierarchy of needs. At the highest level of self-transcendence are helping others and spiritual needs. This reality was revealed in 2017.”

“A selfish person experiences deep loneliness in old age or times of hardship”

Stating that the second symptom of the California Syndrome is egoism and narcissism, Prof. Tarhan said that narcissism is spreading rapidly, especially among young people.

“Books titled ‘The Narcissism Epidemic’ have been published in the United States. Narcissism is egoism turned into a personality trait. A selfish person is fine when strong and healthy, but experiences deep loneliness during illness, old age, or difficult times,” said Prof. Nevzat Tarhan, emphasizing that this process inevitably brings loneliness and depression.

Depression is increasing globally

Prof. Tarhan stated, “The third symptom of the California Syndrome is loneliness, and the fourth is unhappiness and depression. Today, researchers are questioning whether there is a virus behind the global increase in depression. In fact, the virus here is the virus of hedonism.” Emphasizing that coping with loneliness requires a meaning-oriented life, Prof. Tarhan explained that individuals can turn loneliness into an opportunity for self-change and maturation.

Young people are lonelier than the elderly

Addressing the relationship between youth and loneliness, Prof. Tarhan shared striking findings from a large scale study conducted in the United Kingdom. He said, “In a study conducted by the University of Manchester and the BBC with 55,000 participants, 40 percent of young people aged 16 to 24 say they are ‘very lonely.’ Among those aged 75 and over, this rate is 27 percent. In other words, young people are lonelier than the elderly.” Emphasizing that loneliness now affects state policies, Prof. Tarhan said, “The United Kingdom established a Ministry of Loneliness in 2018, and Japan did so in 2021. The United Nations identifies three major dangers awaiting the future: income inequality, climate change, and loneliness.”

The reason for loneliness among young people is digital loneliness

Stating that one of the most important reasons for loneliness among young people is digital loneliness, Prof. Tarhan said, “There are many connections in the digital world, but no depth. There is social sharing, but no emotional sharing. Social media is not actually social. It is virtual media. Where there is no emotional transmission, there is loneliness.” At the end of his speech, emphasizing that deep and meaningful relationships form the foundation of a healthy and happy life, Prof. Tarhan referred to Harvard University’s 75-year long study and said, “Those who live the longest, happiest, and healthiest lives are not the rich, famous, or successful, but those who have deep and meaningful relationships.”

Highlighting the concept of “friend” in Turkish culture, Prof. Tarhan concluded his remarks by saying, “A friend is someone you can talk to when you feel lonely. It is someone with whom you can build a secure relationship and who stands by you in difficult times. We are lonely because we have lost the sense of friendship. We need the wisdom of Anatolia and a synthesis of Eastern wisdom with Western scientific knowledge. Only in this way can this problem be solved.”

Prof. Nazife Güngör: “Loneliness has become a problem embedded in everyday life”

Beginning her speech by greeting the participants of the symposium, Rector of Üsküdar University Prof. Nazife Güngör said, “This is an important symposium and a very important topic. It is extremely serious; we are facing one of the fundamental problems of our age.” Emphasizing that loneliness has now become a natural part of daily life, Prof. Güngör evaluated the individualization of loneliness not merely as a theoretical issue, but as a lived and deeply felt reality, and said, “Today, we no longer talk about individuals becoming lonely only in academic texts, but also within our everyday conversations. Because we see it, we feel it, and we experience it. Loneliness has become a problem embedded in everyday life.”

“Family relationships weakened with technology”

Touching upon the historical roots of loneliness, Prof. Güngör pointed out that transformations in family structure accelerated this process alongside modernization. She stated, “In fact, we can say that individuals began to become lonely with modernization. One of the most important reasons for this is the transition from the extended, traditional family to the nuclear family. Of course, the nuclear family had positive aspects in terms of modern life; it became a necessity of industrialized cities. However, this transformation also brought about an intergenerational rupture.”

Stating that this fragmentation in family structure gradually turned into deeper loneliness, Prof. Güngör said, “With technology, intra family relationships weakened. Even in nuclear families, technology came between parents and children. Through this intermediary, family members gradually began to drift apart. At first, this situation created a sense of autonomy and freedom, and for a while it was even enjoyed. However, over time, we began to see that family members no longer communicate with each other even within the same household, and when they do, they do so through a device.”

“We have begun to take pleasure in loneliness”

Stating that the relationship individuals establish with the virtual world has replaced real social relationships, Prof. Güngör said, “Today, each of us interacts with the virtual world offered by the mobile phones in our hands. We go to a café to socialize, we sit at the same table, but after a few minutes we are all outside that café. We are at the same table, but each of us is in a different world.” Emphasizing that the most dangerous dimension of this process is the beginning of taking pleasure in loneliness, Prof. Güngör said, “We are experiencing a strange isolation and disconnection. Even worse, we have begun to take pleasure in loneliness. People no longer needing one another is a very serious danger. However, human beings are social beings by nature. Today, we have begun to deeply experience the contradictions of this social nature.”

Stating that modern and postmodern processes fragment both the individual and the family, Prof. Güngör expressed that people now live a fragmented life in both the real and virtual worlds and said, “On the one hand, we live in concrete reality; on the other hand, we exist in virtual reality. This fragments us. What initially seems pleasurable eventually leads to a much more alarming process in which individuals confront their own contradictions.”

“We have entered a process of becoming objects alongside machines”

Stating that technology has made human beings dependent on machines, Prof. Güngör explained this process with the concept of “objectification” and said, “While we were distancing ourselves from one another, we began to integrate with machines. We became attached to machines. Moving away from being human and from being individuals, we entered a process of becoming objects alongside machines. This is an extremely concerning situation.” Emphasizing that emotions and mental processes are also affected by this transformation, Prof. Güngör concluded her remarks by saying, “Our emotions are softening, and even in a negative sense, we are beginning to rid ourselves of emotions. We surrender our minds to artificial intelligence and our emotions to the virtual realm. As a result, we find ourselves at the very center of a strange process in which loneliness and alienation are deeply intertwined.”

Prof. Süleymanlı: “Our youth sometimes feel unheard and lonely”

Chairman of the Symposium Organizing Committee and Faculty Member of the Department of Sociology at Üsküdar University, Prof. Ebulfez Süleymanlı, joined the symposium online from Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, and drew attention to the increasingly deepening experiences of loneliness among young people in the digital age. Emphasizing that this year’s main theme of the symposium was specifically youth, Prof. Süleymanlı pointed out that digitalization has transformed young people’s social relationships and said, “Despite all the communication opportunities offered by the digital age, our youth, who are constantly interacting through social media, sometimes feel unheard and lonely. This picture clearly reveals that the loneliness experienced by young people is closely related not to individual choices, but to the social conditions in which they live.” Stating that many topics shaping young people’s experiences of loneliness would be discussed throughout the symposium, Prof. Süleymanlı said, “From migrant youth to university students, from the digital generation to social media influencers, from the unique loneliness experiences of young people with autism to the loneliness experienced by students studying abroad, we will examine many topics from a comparative perspective. These groups are among the social segments that experience the new and different forms of loneliness most intensely today.”

The “Youth, Digitalization, and Loneliness” study

Stating that, as in previous years, a comprehensive field study would be shared within the scope of the symposium, Prof. Süleymanlı said, “Within the scope of our symposium, we will also evaluate the findings of the large scale field research titled ‘Youth, Digitalization, and Loneliness,’ which we conducted across Türkiye in cooperation with Method Research Company.” Emphasizing that the symposium aims not only to identify problems but also to produce solutions, Prof. Süleymanlı stated, “Our aim here is not to reinforce an approach that accepts loneliness as fate, but to strengthen an understanding that addresses it as a social issue that can be transformed. We attach importance to creating an academic ground that not only defines problems but also produces solutions.” Underlining that loneliness is a universal issue, Prof. Süleymanlı said, “This year, the symposium has ensured broad international representation through in person and online participation from six countries: Azerbaijan, Finland, Switzerland, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Uzbekistan. This picture once again demonstrates that the phenomenon of loneliness is a borderless and universal problem.”

The journey of youth loneliness in a digitalized world was discussed

In the first session, moderated by Asst. Prof. Nihan Kalkandeler Özdin, the following presentations were delivered: Prof. Metin Kılıç from Düzce University with “The Modernizing Family and Digitalizing Youth,” Annakatriina Jylhä and Tommi Korhonen from the Finnish Red Cross with “Preventing Loneliness Through Volunteering,” Assoc. Prof. Müge Akbağ from Marmara University with “Relational Needs in Youth,” and Prof. Mustafa Koç, participating online, with “The Loneliness Struggle of Emotion Living Youth.”

Results of the Study on Youth Loneliness in Türkiye have been announced

In one of the most striking sections of the symposium, the study titled “Youth, Loneliness, and Digitalization in Türkiye: Current Research Findings,” prepared by Prof. Ebulfez Süleymanlı, Asst. Prof. Nihan Kalkandeler Özdin, and Hale Aslı Kılıç from Method Research Company, was shared with the public for the first time. In the second session before noon, “Youth and Experiences of Social Loneliness” were discussed across a broad spectrum ranging from NEET youth (those not in education, employment, or training) to migrant youth, from individuals with autism to international students. Assoc. Prof. Cihan Ertan, Dr. Gökhan Özcan, Specialist Clinical Psychologist Buse Duran Birlik, Serden Ferhatoğlu Anıl from Switzerland, Nuriye Novruzova (Speech Therapist), and Sümeyra Yaman (Child Development Specialist) evaluated the psychopathological and sociological dimensions of loneliness among young people. The afternoon session of the symposium continued online. In this section, moderated by Prof. Ebulfez Süleymanlı, academics participating from Russia (RUDN University), Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Azerbaijan delivered presentations on youth loneliness, cyber policies, and social media regulations in their respective countries.