So you spend a lot of time alone. Here's why that's not a bad thing.

"Popular media has made loneliness look bad, but is it really? Author and psychologist Ethan Kross explains his study of loneliness, finding that it is actually our response to loneliness - rather than the act of being alone itself - that has negative effects. If we reframe loneliness as an opportunity instead of a threat, it can have surprising benefits for our creativity, well-being, and relationships with ourselves."

"ETHAN KROSS: There's been an increasing amount of attention over the past several years about the negative consequences of loneliness, of feeling like you are isolated and disconnected from other people around you. But there are many situations in which being alone can actually be good for us. We often hear that being alone is bad for us. This messaging is getting us to believe that being alone is bad for us."

"We've done research on this and found that the media is approximately ten times more likely to describe experiences of being alone as negative as compared to positive. Now, why does that matter? It matters because if you expose people to descriptions of being alone as good for you versus bad for you, that has direct implications for how people think about being alone."

"When we do research where we track people over time and we look at how much time they spend alone, what we see is that if you're the kind of person who thinks being alone is good for you, you actually feel good when you spend time alone. But if you're the kind of person who thinks being alone is bad for you, then you feel more lonely when you spend time alone."

Popular media portrays experiences of being alone as negative roughly ten times more often than positive. Exposure to descriptions framing solitude as good or bad influences how people think about and feel during solitary time. People who believe being alone is beneficial tend to feel good when alone, while people who believe it is harmful tend to feel lonelier during solitude. Beliefs that solitude is bad can create cascading negative effects on health and well-being by shaping emotional responses to alone time. Reframing loneliness as an opportunity rather than a threat can enhance creativity, well-being, and relationships with oneself.

Read at Big Think