Connection Matters: 3 Ways to Increase Your Feelings of Connection to Others

Scientists have uncovered that social isolation can be as bad for your health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day, reducing your immune-system function and increasing rates of heart disease, cognitive decline, anxiety, and depression.

Our society is increasingly online and disconnected, and we are paying the price with our well-being.  

As an introverted person who actually didn’t feel the impacts of the isolation during the Pandemic, in 2025 I do feel regularly disheartened by a lack of connection with others. 

I’m not talking about a “like” on a social media post, which seems to be what many of us settle for, I mean genuine conversation; not texting, not instant messaging, a phone call (something millennials and below often actively avoid) or even better, a face-to-face conversation about something other than the weather.

Clients regularly express feelings of loneliness and disconnection from friends, family, children, partners, co-workers, etc. 

So, what can be done to save us all from this evolving pattern of separateness?  

3 Simple Ways to Increase Connection:

1. Connect with yourself.

   Part of the disconnection we are all experiencing is a societal mindlessness filled with constant scrolling on devices and a lack of connection to our bodies, the earth, and the beings we co-exist on this planet with.

   Set some limits with how much time you are online, especially in the morning and at night.  Check in with your body, how are you feeling?

   Allow silence, stillness, and reflection.

2. Do something kind for a stranger.

   Buy someone’s coffee behind you in line, give someone a random (genuine) compliment, offer to help someone carry grocery bags to their car, open doors, say good morning, say hello to strangers, let people know you see them, and appreciate them.

   This isn’t simply “good manners”; there is actual evidence of these types of interactions boosting our well-being, significantly.

3. Make a commitment to spend time with others, and yourself, with your phone in another room.

   There is evidence that even the sight of our devices increases our anxiety and compulsion to pick it up. If leaving your phone in another room seems like an impossible task, isn’t that telling you all you need to know?

   As an online therapist, I appreciate the access technology provides many people for a number of positive things; the key is to be intentional with our usage.

   Time is truly precious, and opportunities are not endless.

   What can you do today to be more present, and connected?