On the contrary, loneliness is most certainly not self-imposed, for instance, on shut-ins or the elderly who can no longer drive and are dependent on others to come to them, said others, whether you're talking about relatives (since people are having fewer and fewer kids) or volunteer or hired government assistance workers, becoming scarce due to both Covid and the too-low pay for such hard, heartbreaking work.
And a lot of the activities that have been mentioned above that one can get out and do, volunteering, etc. are just not available in some of the smaller towns. I know someone, for instance who lives in a small enough town that there are literally no volunteer opportunities, no even part-time jobs (seriously; very few places are still open), no clubs of any kind, nothing to do but go drink in a bar (which is not her cuppa tea). Oh, okay, you might say, "Move to somewhere better." Not an option due to her husband's job and the lack of affordable places to live in the nearest larger town, which is an hour away. And no, her husband should not quit his job so they could move; he's been there so long now that he'd be ruining his retirement and he's too old to get something just as good.
So, no, loneliness is not always self-imposed; it simply is not. (You know, there are so many people here in the U.S--and probably other countries too--who just don't realize what life is UNvoluntarily like for too many other people in this country, people for whom the standard advice is unusable.
