Down With The Sickness: Homesickness

By Timothy Hayes on March 5, 2015

Nothing sucks more than being lonely.

Humans are, by our nature, social (yes even you introverts) and need human interaction, but in particular, we need intimate interaction. Going hundreds of miles away to work on an otherwise solitary endeavor is therefore not the most ideal way to maintain that, but you have to go to college.

You might have noticed the symptoms: general sense of loneliness, boredom, staring longingly at pictures of your pet, wishing the Ramen in front of you was your mom’s chicken and dumplings. If you are experiencing these or other similar symptoms, you might be down with the sickness: the home sickness.

Yes, even bros can get the “sickness.” (image courtesy of Student Choice Credit Union at blog.studentchoice.org)

Joking aside, homesickness is an actual serious physiological condition that can have real implications. Some people experience stomachaches,headaches, depression and more frequent sickness.

In 1987, the British Journal of Psychology made a longitudinal study of homesickness in college students finding some of these and other symptoms. This has been the cause of early returns from summer camps for years, but for college students, you might be stuck on the other side of the continent. Now what?

Luckily for you, there are ways to combat homesickness.

One of the best pieces of advice anyone can give to college students is to go out and make friends. For some of you, that might be challenging seeing as you were previously forced by school or extra-curricular activities into making acquaintances that eventually became friends, perhaps out of sheer necessity.

Now you are an adult and that means sticking out your hand, looking someone in the eye and saying “Hello, my name is _________.” By socializing with people, you state a need that is as old as humans: connection.

Besides finding people to at least hang out with, you should do exactly that; hang out. Having friends is one thing, but committing time to them is another. You need to establish time with people, or you will fall into the throws of homesickness.

By choosing to sit in your dorm room, you choose to be lonely. So pick up that phone and text someone. Let them know you are lonely. Chances are, they are too. Go see a play on campus. Get cheap takeout and gossip. Find time for friends because you need it and so do they.

For some of you (those introverts and Netflix hermits), the last two paragraphs sound abhorrent. Okay, I get it. People aren’t your thing. That just means you need to fill your time.

(Image credited to The Viewpoint)

Get busy and get something done. If it’s not homework, find something else that needs done or, better yet, you want to do. As procrastinators everywhere will agree, it is so easy to slip into the “Oh my gosh I’ve got too much to do, so I’ll just sit in this bubble of self-pity” mindset, but it will get you nowhere. Trust me, I know firsthand.

Instead, get something to do. Maybe it’s a Rubik’s Cube or another Netflix series or that term paper you’ve been putting off, but whatever it is, do it and do it wholeheartedly.

If you’re still having that crushing sense of longing and misery after all this, try social media. You’ve got access to a computer obviously or you wouldn’t be reading this. Therefore, you have the ability to use Facebook, Twitter and Skype.

These three services are some of the best ways to stay in touch with family and friends back home. However, they pale in comparison to the next revolutionary technology I’m going to show you. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, the call button on your phone!

Pardon my sarcasm, but it seems like my generation has completely forgotten what phones were originally for: talking to people. A study by Donna and Fraser Reid of CyberPsychology & Behavior has shown that teen and young adult usage of voice communication is drastically low.

However, these interactions are crucial for strong bonding since they are on the fly. According to the Social Information Processing Theory of communications or SIPS for short, humans can use electronic text-based media to regulate the amount and type of information people receive.

Think about it. How many times have you agonized over how to send a text only to type back something like “lol” or “oh?” So stop texting and start calling.

Yes, it’s cheezy, but it’s true. (image from personal.psu.edu)

Lastly, I’ll encourage all of you to find time to get back to your family. Over breaks, on weekends, whenever you just can’t handle it, get back home. Ultimately, being away from home is what’s causing all the hullaballoo, so why not just end all the trouble and get home?

For some that’s not as simple as hopping on the bus or calling mom and asking if she can pick you up after psychology 1234, but whenever you can, get home to spend time with those who matter most.

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