The survey showed more than 60 per cent of those surveyed across Australia felt lonely and more than 80 per cent agreed the feeling was increasing. 

St John of God mental health manager John Parkinson said there were so many reasons one person could feel alone but generally he said an increasing number of clients were struggling to simply communicate. 

“We don’t know how to read body language or react to conflict anymore,” he said. “People can feel very, very lonely in a crowded room because they don’t know how to talk to each other.”

Mr Parkinson said “we” lived in a tech-driven culture, causing unnecessary stress due to an “information overload”, making it easy to withdraw. He said the world was task-oriented, results-based and money-focused.

“We say we’re time poor but we’re not,” Mr Parkinson said. “We choose to be.” 

He said there was also a “huge problem” of entitlement with individuals expecting “life to support them”.

“There’s an attitude of ‘the world doesn’t care and people don’t care,’” he said. “But what are you doing for others?”

Mr Parkinson said in order to be accepted, people needed to be open to differences. 

“We’re all equal,” he said. “We can’t have self-respect until we respect others.”

Mr Parkinson said the increasing loneliness needed to be addressed by communities as a whole, with a focus on health instead of money. 

“We need to open up and talk,” he said. “If you don’t have your health, you’ve got nothing.”

For crisis or suicide prevention support visit lifeline.org.au or call 13 11 14.