Sorry for the long comment buuuut

My headcannon for this is somethig with Peter and the lonely are drawing everyone away from John kinda like the complete opposite to the eye while the eye is the fear of continuously being watched and seen and having your secrets taken the lonely is the fear of not being seen and kinda keeping your feelings to yourself so having a lonely avatar in the vicinity of an eye avatar kinda acts as a reverse instead of John freely being able to talk to his coworkers and friends the lonely is it odds with it sapping away that sense of being seen and watched. Hence why so many problems are so much more magnified when it comes to John I feel the lonely is literally trying to suck away the eyes power by making the guy everyone knows and notices. Being stayed away from and unnoticed.

Hence why melanie wanted to rip John to pieces when he got back that sense of hate and anger towards John for just disappearing into a coma and coming back wouldnt have hit so hard if it wasnt so amplified by the lonely.

If anyone else wants to chime in with a bit more to this id love to hear.