If someone asked you to pick the loneliest day of the year for single people, you’d probably put your money on Valentine’s Day. Maybe New Year’s Eve, when even random drunk strangers are kissing. But according to a new survey, the real emotional sucker punch comes earlier…on Halloween.
Dating.com asked 1,000 single adults about their holiday emotions and found that 59 percent said Halloween is one of the hardest days of the year. For 57 percent, it’s actually worse than Valentine’s Day. Nearly 80 percent admitted to feeling lonely on October 31, and more than half said they’ve cried after opening the door to trick-or-treaters.
It makes sense, in a depressing way. Halloween is built around groups. There are couples in matching costumes, families walking down leaf-covered streets, parties full of people taking photos under fake cobwebs. The energy is communal. If you don’t have someone to share it with, it can feel like you’re being left out.
The Loneliest Day of the Year for Singles Isn’t Valentine’s Day
Then, of course, there’s social media. According to the survey, 73 percent of singles said it makes the loneliness worse. Scrolling through coordinated couple costumes and family pumpkin patches isn’t exactly a confidence boost when you’re sitting at home watching The Shining with takeout.
The loneliness that hits around Halloween is part of something larger. The U.S. has been facing a growing “loneliness epidemic,” according to health officials, especially in big cities. The New York City Health Department found that more than half of residents report feeling lonely “some of the time.” And former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy warned that chronic social disconnection can be as damaging as smoking 15 cigarettes a day.
Still, many people are good at hiding it. The Dating.com survey found that 77 percent of singles have pretended to have plans on Halloween, and 62 percent rarely admit how lonely they feel. That means there’s probably someone scrolling next to you, doing the exact same thing, pretending they’re fine too.
There’s no simple cure for that kind of loneliness. But as Murthy said, small, consistent connections matter. Text someone first. Compliment a stranger’s costume. Even a short conversation can pull you out of that hollow space.
It’s strange that the scariest night of the year might also be the saddest. But maybe that’s the trick of it; sometimes those monsters are real.
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