Social Justice Film Series: Talk About Lonely

• Thursday, January 22, 2026
• 6-8 PM
• Bard Hall at First Unitarian Universalist Church of San Diego


• Free and Open to the Public. Reserve your spot.
• Film screening, followed by discussion

Most of us are by now familiar with the warnings: loneliness is worse for our health than smoking 15 cigarettes a day. The statistics supporting that are astonishing. Billions of dollars are spent in related health care, hundreds of millions of lives are lived in quiet solitude. What's causing this? Is there a cure?     

TALK ABOUT LONELY looks at the obvious culprits: smartphones, dating apps, 'social' media, contactless commerce, the pandemic, remote work, urbanization, A.I., the ever-increasing pace of 21st century life. Then it digs much deeper into the hidden, underlying causes: concentration of the media into the hands of self-interested capital, legitimization of inequality prioritizing individual gains over community health, neoliberalism, capitalism gone dramatically wrong. And most importantly, we'll see the pathways many are successfully taking to escape this labyrinth.     The film presents evocative images of our many states of both disconnection and re-connection. It features deeply insightful commentary. 

TALK ABOUT LONELY is raw, beautiful, heartbreaking, heartwarming, challenging, revealing, and most importantly–hopeful. "[A] compelling and beautiful film illustrating the importance of human connection"–Carrie Henning-Smith, Associate Professor, Health Policy, University of Minnesota. "Talk About Lonely is an intelligent, thoughtful, and penetrating portrait of the negative impacts that the escalating levels of social isolation and loneliness are having on our lives. But it is not just a tale of gloom and doom. This film goes beyond just examining the worrisome influences that AI, pornography, public spaces, policy, social media, and climate are having on our ability to meaningfully connect with others–It speaks to the ability of art, music, the outdoors, and our inherent human nature to help us to never walk alone"–Lenard Kaye, Professor of Social Work, Director, Center on Aging,   University of Maine.    

77 Minutes, 2025, Directed by Charles Wilkinson

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