Is Massachusetts the loneliest state in America?
BOSTON - Saturday in Boston's Seaport District, three days before Valentine's Day, a group of women gathered at Gather, all with one thing in common: They hate their exes.
It was the "I hate my ex" brunch. Instead of a date, they commiserate.
Amanda Ford doesn't actually hate her ex, but doesn't like the single scene in Boston. She said a study that showed Massachusetts is one of the loneliest places in America is accurate.
"I believe it," Ford said. "Slim picking out there. The good ones are taken the bad ones are just being recycled."
But is that study trash or truth? A group named MassBet looked at which states were googling popular dating apps like Tinder, Bumble and Hinge the most on Valentine's Day over a three-year period. Massachusetts averaged the most searches.
Other studies have Massachusetts more middle of the pack and many experts say loneliness and isolation is an epidemic made worse by the pandemic. Remember social distancing?
In a national survey done at Harvard, 36% of American adults "frequently" feel lonely. The number is even higher for young adults and moms with young kids.
Of course, loneliness and love are not necessarily the same, but on a holiday celebrating love, loneliness can hurt.
"I have found from personal experience and from my readers that this is a great place to find love and more importantly friendship," said Meredith Goldstein, an advice columnist at The Boston Globe and author of four books about love.
Goldstein believes if Massachusetts does have a loneliness and dating issue, some of it can be chocked up to our weather. Winter can freeze Cupid's arrow mid-air.
"I get a lot of the same kinds of letters in January every year, it can be a little bit more bleak, things can feel a little bit more lonely," Goldstein said. "So sometimes I see these cycles and wonder it's different in Texas, it's different in other places."
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