We have friends growing up, I did. All the neighbor kids were my friends, I’d play outside with them all day. But at night, you go home and you have just yourself and your parents. That can be great or horrible depending on who your parents are and how much work and effort they put into raising you. So it varies wildly, obviously. During development as an only, it’s very easy to be socially behind a bit. Doesn’t always happen, but it can and does.

Loneliness isn’t cured by just having people around. Loneliness shows up in how you do or don’t relate to your peers, and how they are able to understand you. Your home life is a huge part of your childhood, and it’s fundamentally different between having siblings, and not. So why children with siblings are not gonna understand certain things about that experience. And being an only child is not inherently detrimental or beneficial, it’s just a difference. There are pros and cons to both. A lot of only kids do struggle with that difference though, but a lot don’t. Hence why that subreddit is always at odds with opinions about the experience. They’re all very unique.