«(…)  in our contemporary society, which prizes individualism and shows little patience for the emotionally needy in our midst, it has become taboo to be lonely. (…) The result of such ideology is that we often keep quiet about our loneliness, our need for connection—more so today than a century ago. It seems unlikely that anyone would today join a “lonely club.” To do so would broadcast a discomfort with solitary individualism, and make all too apparent a vulnerability that seems needy and, to some, pathetic. We have internalized the emotional style of individualism, and learned to suppress the feelings that so often dog us. That doesn’t mean they aren’t there; it just means we can’t talk about them — which may make us even lonelier.»

How loneliness became taboo, Susan J. Matt in OUPblog