A quarter of Millennials say they have no friends

Millennials are the loneliest generation in recent history, according to a new survey.  Nearly one third of people between ages 22 and 37 said that they always or often feel lonely in a survey distributed by UK-based research company, YouGov. Comparatively, 20 percent of gen X-ers and 15 percent of baby boomers said they feel similarly isolated. Even more depressingly, another 20 percent of millennials said they believe they have no friends - an unprecedented sense of loneliness. Psychologists the world over have lamented that we are in the midst of a loneliness epidemic.  Underlying increasing reports of loneliness is a vicious cycle: Isolation takes a toll on mental health, which in turn makes people withdraw, which in turn makes them more isolated and depressed, and so on.  Isolation is blamed, in part, for surging rates of deaths of despair in the US, including fatal drinking, drug overdoses and suicides. It's not that previous generations haven't been isolated. In fact, arguably older people, many of whom grew up and into adulthood with fewer people in physical proximity, had fewer technological ways to connect. Millennials spent adolescence and, now, young adulthood with the ability not only to call, but to text, email, snap, tweet, post, IM and live stream one another from anywhere on the planet.