Over the last 20 years, we have increasingly moved our social lives into the digital world.
With the rise of social media, the prevalence of gaming online, and the innovation of cell phones, we have pretty much completed the move.
The majority of our interactions with each other happen in the digital world. We text each other, comment on social media posts, and meet up to play co-op games online.
Even the interaction through work has started to move online, with the increasing move to remote jobs after the 2020 Pandemic.
While things like remote work, social media, and texting have certainly made a lot of lives easier and more convenient, that's not to say that it hasn't come at a cost.
Without much physical interaction, the feeling of loneliness has become evermore present in folks all around the world.
In fact, some experts are saying that an epidemic of loneliness now exists in the world.
Mr. Lonely USA
According to an article by NPR, the Surgeon General of the United States has declared loneliness an epidemic:
"There is an epidemic of loneliness in the United States and lacking connection can increase the risk for premature death to levels comparable to smoking 15 cigarettes a day."
Apparently this loneliness epidemic started even before the COVID Pandemic, according to the Surgeon General, and the physical effects can be devastating.
These include a 29% increased risk of heart disease and a 50% increased risk of developing dementia for older adults.
The Surgeon General also addressed the probable cause of loneliness being isolated, online interactions, and how we can mitigate the damaging effects of being online all the time, specifically for our children:
"What we need to protect against are the elements of technology, and social media in particular, that seek to maximize the amount of time that our children are spending online at the expense of their in-person interactions."
But this loneliness epidemic is not just occurring in America.
It's global.
A (New) Global Epidemic?
All around the world, folks of all ages are feeling lonely. While it seems obvious given the state of our social interactions after being introduced to social media, this is not just anecdotal.
In a study done in 2022, researchers investigated the percentage of reported loneliness in 113 countries. The study broke down people by age group, with the percent of loneliness going up to 24% of adults in some areas of the world.
In an article published by CNN, a survey done in 2023 reported that 1 in 4 adults answered that they felt lonely when asked the question "How lonely do you feel?"
Another study on loneliness revealed that young adults feel significantly lonelier than older adults:
“79% of Gen Zers and 71% of Millennials considered themselves lonely, compared to 50% of Baby Boomers.”
Now while there are lots of reasons that people could potentially be feeling lonely, it's safe to say that there are two main culprits that we can take a look at:
Social media and dating apps.
How Social Media and Dating Apps Contribute
While social media has been a huge innovation in technology, there are definitely some concerns with the direction that it's currently headed.
Firstly, most of the content available on these sites are either 'Doom and Gloom" or "Cookie Cutter Nonsense". These sites take advantage of our brains' affinity for dopamine seeking behavior, by giving us intermittent random rewards to keep us scrolling, and most importantly, increase our time on these sites.
When we see horrible things on our feed all day, or boring, engineered programming, it's easy to start to feel isolated and down in the dumps.
Social media also takes us away from physical interaction. It's much easier to hide behind a keyboard and spew nonsense than it is to try and make genuine connections with people in person. It's also much more convenient.
While digital interaction is not all bad; sometimes we meet some of our best friends online, it shouldn't take away from our ability to be charismatic and articulate in-person as well, thus making friends and connections.
Traditional dating apps also play a huge role in the loneliness epidemic, especially for men.
Men have shown to have a mere 0.6% match rate on these apps.
The amount of meaningful conversation on dating apps is also extremely low, at a measly 1%.
And it makes sense. These apps do not look to truly connect people meaningfully. They are mostly catered towards hookups and meaningless swiping, to keep people hooked on that dopamine loop. Most of the conversations on dating apps end after the first few exchanges, with one or both parties feeling nothing from what just happened.
One factor to consider in this is that since users are mindlessly swiping, matching, and making decisions so quickly, they are more likely to treat their matches as random, and feel like they don’t have to invest time into that conversation.
This creates the idea that if we were to approach potential romantic interests in person, the same meaningless conversation and dull interaction will happen, leaving us feeling like there's nowhere to find true connection with others.
But there is somewhere we can go to find that meaningful connection.
Wave Goodbye to Loneliness with FrostyWave
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Our users fill out an in-depth questionnaire meant to prioritize the qualities that they seek in a life partner.
Then, our AI will use this information to find them quality matches with whom they have the highest chance of success.
Users are only given a set amount of matches each month, and the women on our app are subject to an AI scoring system which ensures they are serious about finding a partner.
This process ensures that there will be no time wasted swiping mindlessly and striking up conversations that end after "Hi, how are you?"
So, what are you waiting for?
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