The Loneliness Economy: How can technology help us belong?

A paradox: People are more connected now than ever — through phones, social media, Zoom and such — yet loneliness continues to rise. Among the most digitally connected, teenagers and young adults, loneliness nearly doubled in prevalence between 2012 and 2018, coinciding with the explosion in social media use.AdvertisementContinue reading the main s

• “The younger you are, the more likely you are now to feel lonely.” “Loneliness is now one of the most important problems our generation has to solve, alongside climate change and obesity.”


• If we’re becoming less religious, we are gradually substituting religion with other forms of cults like astrology, wellness clubs, or group therapies (e.g., Alcoh

That’s the existential question for humanity in the 21st century. That’s the challenge in front of all of us. Will you shoulder the risk of pursuing real human connection, as hard and intimidating and discouraging as that can be? Or will you hide in your room forever, comforted by fast food and porn and opiates and therapy and TikTok, risking nothi

Loneliness—often a factor of social isolation—has become a societal epidemic in late capitalist societies.