Why connection matters
Just like the inner pieces of a clock each need to be functional to make the whole work well, our social ecosystem requires our connections to be healthy in order to thrive. It's time to clean the gears, oil the works, and reconnect.
Connection by the Numbers
Social connection isn't a soft topic — it's one of the most powerful forces shaping our health, our workplaces, and our communities. Here's what the research shows, starting close to home.
The Cost of Disconnection
When connection frays, the consequences are real — and measurable.
32% of Rutland County residents report feeling socially isolated.
Social disconnection carries a mortality risk comparable to smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day.
Loneliness raises the risk of heart disease 29%, stroke 32%, and dementia 50% in older adults.
69% of employees aren't satisfied with the opportunities for connection at work.
Employees with low belonging are 313% more likely to want to quit.
what makes connection possible
But the reverse is just as measurable. When connection grows, so does nearly everything that depends on it.
People with strong social relationships have a 50% greater likelihood of survival — an effect comparable to quitting smoking.
Communities with strong social ties recover faster from disasters — social networks can matter more than emergency supplies.
Highly connected employees report 92% more professional growth, 59% more positive relationships, and 34% greater goal attainment.
None of this is fixed.
Connection can be grown — intentionally, in our workplaces, our communities, and our lives. That's the work, and it's work anyone can be part of.
A Landscape Analysis: Rutland County (December 2025)
In our earlier connection work through Social Tinkering, we co-authored the first-ever Social Connection, Isolation, and Loneliness in Rutland County: A Landscape Analysis — the only regional-level report of its kind we know of among our peers. The culmination of three years of research and exploration in an emerging field with few models to follow, it compiles existing local data on social connection, isolation, and loneliness and their impacts across the region — the first known comprehensive effort to understand disconnection in Rutland County. It gives community organizers and leaders a high-level picture of social connection across our communities to draw on in their planning and programs. We hope to replicate this model across Vermont and beyond to create grassroots analyses that inform the connection movement.
a few of the big takeaways...
Some groups of people are at higher risk of loneliness and isolation.
Older adults, youth, LGBTQ+ individuals, people with
disabilities, those living alone, financially insecure residents, and BIPOC populations face higher rates of disconnection.
Barriers are complex and solvable. Transportation, digital access, housing, social anxiety, and many more challenges can limit connection. Specific, inclusive solutions can reduce them.
The Rutland region has strong community assets. Civic engagement, cultural events, collaboration,
and social initiatives provide a strong foundation to expand connection and build a thriving, inclusive community.
From grassroots to a global movement
In 2025, the World Health Organization's Commission on Social Connection released its flagship report, From Loneliness to Social Connection: Charting a Path to Healthier Societies, finding that 1 in 6 people worldwide experience loneliness — contributing to an estimated 871,000 deaths each year. It makes the case that social connection is essential to health and that strong social connections lead to better health and longer life. The report calls on governments, communities, and individuals alike to make social connection a public health priority — and maps a path forward for doing so.
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This is the global movement Social Roots Studio is part of as a United States Regional Ambassador to the Social Connection Collective. We are proud to be part of such a diverse and extensive peer network, building a world-wide movement.
getting to the root of disconnection
AN EPIDEMIC OF LONELINESS
Most of us are struggling to build positive relationships — at work, at home, and in our everyday lives. Division and distrust both feel like they're at an all time high. Businesses struggle to attract and keep employees while entire communities wrestle with the economy, transportation gaps, harmful substance use, crime, and natural disasters. Families are grappling with multiple generations of relationship trauma, financial struggles, and a lack of caregiving support. All of this is making people want to just stay home and hide away from it all but disconnecting further will only increase the issues.
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Social connection in response isn't just about getting out and socializing. If it were as simple as joining a club, we'd all be members of clubs already — and we wouldn't be living through an epidemic of loneliness. This is so much deeper and more complex than not socializing enough. We need to ask questions like: Why aren't we connecting? And when we do, why do so many of us still feel alone? Social disconnection is a circular, systemic problem that individuals, families, and whole communities carry. Over-simplifying the answer will not solve this dilemma.
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IT'S ABOUT COMPASSIONATE BELONGING
Yes, we need better transportation, healthcare, and food systems. And underlying all of this disconnection is how we are in relationship with each other. The answer is compassionate belonging: feeling seen, heard, and valued by people who care about our suffering and act on it. Belonging alone isn't enough; it exists in healthy and unhealthy relationships, and can be manipulated with fear to abuse, gain power, wealth, or political support. Paired instead with compassion, belonging centers care — and compassionate belonging is what increases well-being and helps us thrive.
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You may not feel it directly or right now, but we're all affected through our relationships and our communities. It's time to talk about this openly and do something about it. Our cultural norms, social structures, and systems are the source of both our pain and our healing. How can we shift the way we're in relationship — with each other and within ourselves — to begin reconnecting?
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LIVED EXPERIENCE PAIRED WITH GLOBAL RESEARCH
At Social Roots Studio, we pair our own lived experience of disconnection, isolation, loneliness, and reconnecting with the best available global research. We know deeply that reconnecting begins with growing compassionate belonging inside ourselves while practicing it with others.
We're not here to sell a fast, false fix or to claim we have all the answers. We're still learning too. Growing meaningful connection takes time, patience, courage, integrity, honesty, and grit — showing up together especially when it's challenging to heal the pain of isolation and slow the cycle of disconnection.
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LET'S GET TO THE ROOT OF THE MATTER, TOGETHER
Growing cultures grounded in meaningful connection, like a long-time friendship, takes time to grow. Social Roots Studio is here to deepen our shared understanding of this complex experience, and to collaborate with you creatively and intentionally. It's simple: we all benefit, and even thrive, when we feel we truly belong. So what is feeling disconnected for you? How can we help? If you lead a business, organization, or community, we know your plate is already full. If disconnection, isolation, and loneliness are getting in the way of what you're trying to achieve, Social Roots Studio is ready to help you and the people you serve reconnect and get to thriving.