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 33

kya 1/16/2026|

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benhnbenhn 1/16/2026||

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kylehotchkiss 1/15/2026||

build another software platform

This community is not going to be the one to solve that problem, sorry.

publicdebates 1/15/2026||

HN has some odd people that don't jump to tech solutions for everything. Plus I'm banned from reddit for 3 days for making a dark joke, and besides, my reddit post asking the same thing went nowhere. At least people here engage in good faith and depth.

fsckboy 1/15/2026||

i want to hear the joke

publicdebates 1/15/2026||

Someone said he said something rude in front of his friend, and is worried she will think badly about him, and asked what to do to fix it.

I said there's no turning back now, time to double down, call her fat and ugly, and punch her dog.

Banned for 3 days for advocating violence.

fsckboy 1/15/2026||

there are way worse calls to violence every day on reddit! except I guess fat-shaming is also violence

pixelpoet 1/15/2026||

I actually wanted to suggest government funded online dating, so we aren't beholden to godawful Tinder and its clones (OkCupid was great for me until it got bought out and turned into Tinder).

kylehotchkiss 1/15/2026|||

I have a slightly different angle on that - Government mandated open algorithms, exposure of sort factors (are you in the back of the line in the swipe queue), and monthly disclosure of male/female ratios. Yeah, it'll effectively crush their business models and then they actually need to start solving the problems they've created (extreme superficiality, not background checking users, not addressing bots, not acknowledging that US has an implicit class system)

I'm trying to figure out if I have enough energy to try to pitch this to my representatives office, but I don't know if 30-40% adults never marrying or falling birth rates would be arguments that democratic politician would care to act upon.

platevoltage 1/15/2026|||

OkCupid was great before it got turned into a swiping app. Such a shame.

pixelpoet 1/16/2026||

A lot of people (silently) disliked my opinion, interestingly.

platevoltage 1/23/2026||

They probably didn't like the "government funded" part. I don't think I disagree. I'd hate to see what a government operated dating app would look like under my government. I doubt someone like me would be allowed on it.

DefundPortland 1/16/2026||

[flagged]

eastbound 1/16/2026||

May I suggest that the political divide is extremely harmful? I don’t understand why [other camp] is so hateful, socially excluding at the first sign of our political leaning, etc.

I agree we also need to organize activities, but when social circles are occupied by the other camp with a witchhunt bonus, it is discouraging to try. And recursively encourages political extremism.

Incoming comment: “Not our problem, don’t be a Nazi.”

syntaxing 1/15/2026||

Are you talking about the US? If so, I heard this proposed on a podcast “Grey Area”. Mandatory two year draft for all, regardless of gender. It sounds crazy at first but it kind makes sense the more you think about it.

lifeisstillgood 1/15/2026||

I also have long thought this. Probably not for military service but some form of community service,

hightrix 1/15/2026||

No. It sounds crazy after thinking about it for a while also. Especially with the current administration.

This is not the American way.

syntaxing 1/15/2026||

Hmm interesting, what is the American way? We had conscription between 1940-1973. What makes it non American?

hightrix 1/15/2026||

The draft was wildly unpopular during that short period of time when it was active.

Americans, prior to trump, espoused the concept of freedom. That includes the freedom to not serve in the military.

syntaxing 1/15/2026||

I think I get what you’re trying to say but realistically, it doesn’t add up. The draft was 33 years. The US is only 250 years old (give or take) so over 10% of our history had conscription. The Vietnam and Korean War was widely unpopular because it was the first broadcasted war. People watch their family get blown up on TV. It had nothing to do with “freedom to serve military”.

If you argue a draft is counterproductive because it a waste of resources and we have better means to serve young adults, I could buy it. But arguing a draft is not the American way because it’s “our freedom to decide what we want” is a bit silly.

I do absolutely agree that I wouldn’t trust the current administration or culture to faithfully execute on this idea though.

28304283409234 1/15/2026|

No. We are too busy worrying about an invading USA.