Are you a loner or just lonely?

I watched an interesting video on the BBC website recently about the benefits of being alone. I don't suppose it told me anything I didn't know already. Some people are loners by nature, others like and need the company of others all the time. According to the BBC, surveys done on people around the world found that the main things people found relaxing were reading and being alone. Number 12 on the list was visiting friends and family.
When I shared a flat with four other girls, we were all happy to have the place to ourselves once in a while. We did enjoy each other's company but now and again, when everyone else was out for the evening, it was an absolute luxury to curl up and read or watch TV on one's own. I had one flatmate, though, who hated being on her own. On Sunday mornings when I was trying to sleep off a late night, she would come into my room and shuffle about until she had woken me up. She wasn't being cruel or insensitive, it was just that she needed company and wanted me to give her an account of how my date or the party the night before had gone.
Having watched the BBC video and talked to a few friends, I think I can say that I am a loner by nature. I have absolutely no problem travelling or going to a concert on my own. On the other hand, I do enjoy meeting up with friends, going out for a meal or a drink, and going to concerts with them, too.
Being a writer means that I spend time at my laptop away from everybody. One of the things the BBC discovered is that being on your own improves your creativity. That makes sense. We sometimes say "let me think", which is an indirect plea for the others to be quiet. Or we say: "I couldn't hear myself think" meaning there was too much going on around us.
Being lonely, on the other hand, is not being happy with solitude. We know that loneliness, the plague of our modern day and age, causes all sorts of diseases and illnesses. Not everyone has tons of friends and acquaintances. Studies of introverts show that although they have far fewer friends than their counterparts, these are close ties. Extroverts on the other hand, can have loads of acquaintances and friends without forming a very close alliance to any of them. They are usually the centre of attention and they like it that way.
It's an interesting subject. I suppose the bottom line is that we are who we are and if we are not unhappy about it, anything goes.