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Crowded Loneliness: The Word of 2024 Was Decided by the People's Vote

As a result of a public vote organized in cooperation with the Turkish Language Association (TDK) and Ankara University, “crowded loneliness” was chosen as the “word and concept of 2024” with the participation of nearly 1 million people. 

The Evaluation Committee explained the reason for choosing this concept as follows:

“In 2024, there is an increase in the number of studies showing that people feel lonely in crowds. 'loneliness', which expresses singularity, and 'crowd', which expresses multiplicity, can exist at the same time, which seem to be opposites of each other. This situation, which can be explained on sociological, psychological and communicative grounds, manifests itself in the daily lives of individuals and the forms of relationships they establish.” 

It was also stated that with the increasing use of social media and digital technologies, people started to feel more lonely.

“Although the number of followers and likes gaining importance in the social media environment and creating a so-called 'crowded' environment is perceived as a solution to the feeling of loneliness, it creates a result that increases the feeling of loneliness. The fact that the digital world offers temporary relationships deepens the feeling of loneliness.” 

This situation, together with the acceleration of life and the weakening of social ties, causes individuals to feel lonely even in crowds.