All by myself! Berlin - City of lonely young adults?

Podium discussion at the Futurium

On Friday evening, 22 of April, the Futurium opened its doors to all interested people for a panel discussion with the title “BERLIN – CITY OF LONELY YOUNG ADULTS? – ALL BY MYSELF!”. Four guests from different social, cultural and scientific fields were invited, including the psychiatrist and stress researcher Prof. Dr. Mazda Adli, the entrepreneur and politician from the CDU Diana Kinnert, the former Secretary General of the National Student Conference Dario Schramm and the psychologist and member of the psychological management team at “krisenchat” Hendrikje Schmidt.

The moderator Marie-Christine Knop led through the evening and different perspectives around the topic of loneliness in the city were discussed. The talk was accompanied by sign language (DGS) translators.

The feeling of loneliness reaches a peak around the age of 30, so young people are particularly vulnerable. Loneliness is often not only about being connected, but also about the quality of social contacts. The four guests discussed the impact of current events, such as the Corona pandemic, on young people, where measures such as online schooling have increased loneliness. More and more people feel lonely. Yet loneliness remains a shameful topic that many find difficult to talk about.
The panel discussion at the Futurium was part of the Citizen Science project “Your Emotional City” funded by the Berlin University Alliance.

You can watch the stream of the event free of charge on Youtube at the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K98j0Qyd_7k&ab_channel=Futurium