Loneliness is a problem in Australian culture.

The deepest truth about people, in my opinion, is also the sweetest and noblest truth about us, and that is that we are social beings by nature. As such, we depend on all neighborhoods, communities, families, and groups of all kinds to nurture us, protect us, and even to help us.

make us feel like we are ourselves If you want to know who you are, look into the faces of the people who love you, the people you work with, the people in your neighborhood, the people who put up with you, and me. We talk a lot about personal identity—in fact, we talk a lot of nonsense about it as though it's something you could work out in isolation by staring into the navel, the mirror, or rushing off to a weekend workshop. Because we are herd animals and only understand ourselves in the context of humans, the harshest punishment in our criminal justice system that comes to mind is solitary confinement. This doesn't mean that we don't need and enjoy periods of isolation; we all need time alone; but what we need that time for is to restock our resources for the extremely difficult time of belonging to a social species.

You consider that as you consider modern Australia. What has become our main social issue is extremely obvious.

When you consider the majority of the ways in which modern Australian culture is altering, you understand that these changes are eroding our society.

We're more socially fragmented than we've ever been, which is one of the two most important things to say about contemporary Australia. I can justify that very easily by reminding you of things we all know about ourselves our households are shrinking every fourth household and it will soon be every third household contains just one. Between 35 and 40 percent of marriages today end in divorce, which is a very fragmented phenomenon. Of course, I'm not just concerned about the couples who are splitting up, their families, and their social networks; I'm also concerned about any children who may be involved in the marriage that ends. And while we're talking about children, another odd perhaps factor to mention on this list of factors contributing to our social fragmentation is the declining birthrate.

the rate of pet ownership is skyrocketing, which is how some people compensate you know that their pet substitutes because they're giving them human names more and more. While the birthrate crashes, we are compensating of course by while the birthrate crashes the rate of pet ownership is going through the roof. Recently, I met a dog named Ian, and I thought that was a bit of a strange name for a dog. However, I quickly understood that the dog was actually a substitute for a child, so that's another aspect. However, what about our increased busyness since we're working longer hours?

When we're busier, of course, by the end of the working week, if it ever ends, we have much less time and much less energy available for the business of nurturing the local neighborhood, so our busyness tends to isolate us from each other as of course does our almost a constant need to be online. People who work in occupations where they are accessible via information technology say that in a way they're never away from work because there are always emails, text messages, and other things to be attended to. There is a significant qualitative difference between communication or, more accurately, a data transfer that occurs via information technology and face-to-face interaction between humans who are present to each other. When you combine all of those factors, add to them our increasing mobility—we move houses on average once every six years, and of course, we're a drive-in society.

These factors increase one's sensation of loneliness and diminish one's sense of community stability and cohesion. Now, considering what I said about the nature of our species, consider what is likely to occur in a society that is experiencing those kinds of upheavals and social changes, moving us toward becoming less socially cohesive and more socially fragmented. Obviously, you would expect for a social species that more social fragmentation would result in more anxiety and mental disturbance. greater restlessness, probably even greater despair, and of course, most Western countries, with whom we compare ourselves, have experienced exactly that, not just here.

Our panel will discuss these issues as well as others and their implications. The first big fact about contemporary Australia is that we have become more socially fragmented. The second big fact is that we are experiencing an epidemic of mental illness, specifically an epidemic of anxiety. Of course, those two facts are really just one fact because if you do become more socially fragmented, you will also have an epic epidemic of anxiety. in fact, we're actively involved in them; we bring about these social changes. As a result, it seems to me that we must take responsibility for the anxiety epidemic; even if we don't personally experience it, we have helped to create the kind of society that encourages it. According to Beyond blue, two million Australians were diagnosed with an anxiety disorder last year. Add to that the number of people with depression and other associated mental illnesses, and you have a very large number.

there are numerous suggestions I'm sure this is coming from the panelists, but let me just say that I believe the key word that could change everything, the key word that would capture the approach that will address the issue of the relationship between social fragmentation and high anxiety is the word compassion. We must learn that in order for human communities to thrive and prosper, or perhaps even to survive—certainly in the case of local neighborhoods, we need them but we also need to understand that they are not sufficient in and of themselves.

These communities depend on us to keep them alive. We must interact, connect, and be the kind of individuals who have adopted a mental discipline that states, "I will treat every encounter with fellow human beings with kindness and respect because I know that's the only way to deal with fellow members of this species if we're all going to survive and get along." In practice, this means that you would never pass someone on the sidewalk without smiling and saying hello. You'd never be able to say, "Gosh, someone in our street died in their house and no one knew for two weeks as has often happened in major cities of Australia," because you'd organize a small street party or something to bring people together. You also wouldn't allow that to happen because you'd be the kind of person who understands that you are a social being who is a member of this species and that you need to interact with others.

You'd know to stop by occasionally to see how things are going, ask if you can help with your shopping or put the trash out, or do anything else to keep in touch and give that person the impression that they are being taken seriously—which is, incidentally, every person's deepest human need—and that they are not socially isolated because someone in the street is watching out for them. It's not difficult or even You'd know to stop by occasionally to see how things are going, ask if you can help with your shopping or put the trash out, or do anything else to keep in touch and give that person the impression that they are being taken seriously—which is, incidentally, every person's deepest human need—and that they are not socially isolated because someone in the street is watching out for them. It's not difficult or even particularly complicated; it's just a matter of common courtesy. The only way to maintain the health of the community is to connect, participate, engage, and above all, look out for the hazar. I'll take advantage of every opportunity I can to join a choir, a community yard, in current affairs research, or anything else that will connect me with the neighborhood not just because it'll be good for me—nothing lowers my anxiety level like the practice of compassion—but also because I know it'll be good for the community.