Ask HN: How can we solve the loneliness epidemic?

Posted by publicdebates 1/15/2026

Countless voiceless people sit alone every day and have no one to talk to, people of all ages, who don't feel that they can join any local groups. So they sit on social media all day when they're not at work or school. How can we solve this?

799 points | 1245 commentspage 18

agumonkey 1/15/2026|

social media should be studied deep and hard

just this week i was stuck with a machine i could use to log on websites, so I just browsed reddit anonymously, no profile, no suggestions, no "me" at all.. and it was delightful, suddenly I'm not here to respond or be heard and my brain went into focus mode, i was eager to read the article linked and not the comments.. very very refreshing

except for critical needs, we should go back to paid limited network access, this will make people allocate their time and attention much better and also do more things outside potentially meeting people

rando77 1/15/2026||

I've wondered if LLMs can help match people. People give the LLM some public context about their lives and two LLMs can have a chat about availablity and world views.

Use AI to scaffold relationships not replace them.

gulugawa 1/15/2026|

Scam technology like LLMs aren't going to solve the loneliness epidemic.

rpjt 1/15/2026||

I built a mobile app that allows you to get a morning wake up call from a real person. Part of my motivation here was to help add a little human interaction to what is a lonely experience for some people.

makebelievelol 1/16/2026||

Well, AI has provided a solution for this, but I don't think the crowd here would like the answer.

Go to reddit.com/r/fictosexual or reddit.com/r/MyBoyfriendIsAI/ and see for yourself.

neutralino1 1/15/2026||

Asking people to change their ways is pointless. When something is systemic, only a systemic solution can work.

I have become intimately convinced that engagement-based feeds are the root of many evils of our time, loneliness included.

Here are some of the perverse effects (if ever they needed be told), and how they relate to the loneliness epidemic

- they incentivize individuals from a young age to find stimulation from scrolling mindless content through short dopamine loops instead of seeking satisfaction through longer-term endeavors (e.g. projects, board games, bands, sports teams, etc.) which tend to foster connections with friends, neighbors, family, strangers

- they radicalize and polarize into extreme niche communities (political extremes, conspiracy theories, manosphere, etc) so that it's more difficult to find common ground with a random average person, giving you the impression that everyone is your enemy

- they reflect a skewed version of reality where societal standards (beauty, intelligence, success, wealth, etc) are distorted and artificial, which drives people to believe they are insufficient and ostracized

I firmly believe that engagement-based feeds should be heavily regulated, the same way that other addictive behaviors have (e.g. tobacco, gambling, etc.).

TuringNYC 1/16/2026||

Have standing lunches/dinners/coffees or even facetimes with your friends. I do them monthly with most. If you need to cancel, so be it, but having it pre-scheduled helps tremendously.

hwhehwhehegwggw 1/15/2026||

People who live in London, how did you find a solution for this? I am interested in hearing what you tried. I am in my very early 30s. Single male. I didn't feel up in UK. Moved here I my 20s.

taco_emoji 1/15/2026||

Eliminate the Internet. I'm not joking -- it's much, MUCH harder to be lonely if you don't have Amazon, Instacart, UberEats, and social media fulfilling various needs in your life.

anoplus 1/15/2026||

In my opinion - just do it. What you want. Message someone you haven’t talked with for years. Ask someone out. Smile :-). Say hello. Strike a conversation with a stranger.

You deserve it, because you are a human

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