Loneliness Is Contagious

寂寞会传染

Some diseases are contagious–like colds, flu, and chicken pox. But what about loneliness? Loneliness may not be a disease, at least not in the same way that chicken pox is. But loneliness can be contagious.

一些疾病是会传染的，例如一般感冒、流感以及水痘。但是寂寞会不会传染呢？寂寞或许并不是一种疾病，至少跟水痘不一样吧。但它是会传染的。

How so? The same way that many emotions can be infectious. Being around someone who’s really happy can put you in a good mood. While hanging around someone who’s depressed can be, well, depressing.

为什么会这样呢？同样的道理，人的许多情绪都是可以传染的。在一个快乐的人旁边可以让你心情愉快；然而在一个失落的人旁边会让你感到沮丧。

The same goes for loneliness. According to one study, the average person feels lonely about forty-eight days per year. Having a lonely friend adds around seventeen extra days of lonely feelings.

寂寞也是这样的。一项调查表明，人在一年当中感到孤独的平均时间是48天。 若是有个寂寞的朋友，会增加17天左右。

Following more than five-thousand people for ten years, the study observed how loneliness can spread through a group. Lonely people, it seems, transmit their sad, lonely feelings to people around them. What happens, according to the study, is that interacting with a lonely person can leave you with a negative feeling toward friendship generally. And so you’re more likely to have negative experiences with other friends, weakening social bonds. If loneliness is allowed to spread unchecked, it can destroy a social network.

该项目在十年间跟踪调查了5000多人，观察寂寞是如何在一群人中蔓延的。结果似乎是寂寞的人会把他们悲伤、寂寞的感觉传播给他周围的人。根据这项调查，在一般情况下，与一个寂寞的人相处会会让你对友谊有着消极的情绪。这样一来，你就很可能与朋友发生不愉快，削弱你的社会联系。倘若寂寞可以随意蔓延，它会毁掉你的社交网络。

The best way to ward off this sort of lonely contagion is to pay more attention to people on the edges of a group. Reaching out to those who are shy or don’t fit in, and are therefore lonely, can make them feel less alone. And so they’re less likely to spread lonely feelings throughout the group.

避免寂寞传染的最好方式就是将更多的注意力放在处于群里边缘的人身上，向那些害羞或者不适应的人伸出手，这样会让他们感到没那么寂寞。从而就不太将寂寞感传给群体里的人。