Six in ten techies working with loneliness

As many as six in ten people working in the IT sector feel lonely --  ‘always,’ ‘often’ or ‘sometimes,’ new research reveals.

An even bigger chunk – about two thirds -- say that although they do have people who they “feel close to”, the people live far away, found the British Red Cross, which ran the research.

But this 64 per cent still seem better-off than the remaining third of techies who say they don’t have colleagues who they feel close to, or who they can talk to about their loneliness.

Out of those in the technology sector who admitted to feeling lonely (a total of 4,000 adults were surveyed in various sectors), just over seven in 10 said the feeling has had a "negative" impact on their life.

Almost as many worry their loneliness will worsen, yet busying themselves at work won’t definitely help, as just shy of two-thirds of the techies said they felt alone even if surrounded by other people.

The British Red Cross said: “A lack of meaningful social connections could be contributing to people’s feelings of loneliness and isolation as in the IT sector.”

The charity added that it would be calling on people to show their kindness during the winter months, by helping it continue supporting “those most in need so they don’t feel alone.”

It may have its work cut out in the tech sector -- a fifth emerged as having no “friends” to talk or feel close to and, of those self-describing as lonely, three in ten said they have no coping strategies.

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