Dear Editor:I must admit that I was rather alarmed by reading an article in the East Tennessean describing a study that encourages “heavy tobacco use and the daily viewing of hardcore pornography” as a remedy for loneliness.
I don’t know the motivation behind putting this article in the paper. Maybe it was to hold the readers’ attention, to promote a response, or to encourage students to think and not believe every study set before them no matter how “prestigious” the research journal that published it. I choose the latter option. Allow me to explain.
First of all, why would a five-year study choose heavy tobacco use as a variable when tobacco is addictive and linked to multiple cancers?
The risks outweigh the benefits.
Secondly, let’s talk about pornography. If you are lonely, maybe having a little trouble connecting with other people, staring at hardcore porn every day is not going to help your situation. Porn will only magnify your isolation. How are you going to relate to someone if your mind is so clouded with sex that you can’t look at another person without being overtaken by lustful thoughts?
Treating people with respect and dignity has a more positive outcome that glaring at others as objects of sexual fantasy.
As far as the elderly are concerned, how is “disconnecting the telephone, avoiding the outdoors and getting rid of pets” going to perk them up?
Webster’s defines loneliness as “being without company . cut off from others.”
How is disconnecting the phone and cutting yourself off from the outside world going to boost your mood?
Talk to people; tell them how you feel. Go outside; fresh air is good for you. Listen to the leaves rustle in the trees, look at the mountains, go for a hike. Get a pet. Pets are therapeutic.
Also disturbing was the part about leaving someone alone who is lonely. Is this a joke? If they’re lonely and seeking companionship, give it to them. Remember Maslow’s hierarchy of needs from psychology?
Love and belonging are a part of it.
“Increased alcohol consumption, when coupled with a healthy obsession with unpaid bills and financial problems, appeared to put a spring in their step and laughter in their hearts.” Are these lonely people still going to be laughing when they have cirrhosis of the liver?
I haven’t heard of many “healthy obsessions” either, seeing that according to Webster’s an obsession is “a persistent disturbing preoccupation .”
Sounds shady to me. I could go on forever about this article but won’t. Why? Because we are college educated and know that all studies are reliable.

Kristen Kuhlo

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