What we can do
What’s New
Afraid of dying alone? How a Chinese app exposed single people’s deepest, darkest fears
In China, marriage and birth rates have hit record lows and many people are living in isolation. Is the Are You Dead? app just a practical response to this – or something more troubling? The concept is simple: users must check in once a day by clicking a large green...
‘Lonely, terrifying and scary’: 70% of students in UK university halls feel isolated, poll shows
Students blame reliance on phones plus pressure of accommodation costs for lack of social life. More than two-thirds of students in UK university halls feel lonely or isolated, blaming accommodation costs and over-reliance on phones for limiting their social life....
Feeling lonely? Six ways to connect with friends – even when busy
If you aren’t getting the quality time or intimacy you need, try these connection experiments to shake up interactions. The Guardian gets tips from Don Martin, content creator and host of podcast Head on Fire who defines loneliness as simply the gap between the...
Bridging the empathy perception gap fosters social connection
Young adults face a rising tide of mental illness and loneliness. We propose that an overlooked barrier for social connection is how people perceive each other's empathy. Here, our longitudinal study of an undergraduate student community (N=5,192) reveals that...
Childhood Loneliness and Cognitive Decline and Dementia Risk in Middle-Aged and Older Adults
A new study explores the impact of childhood loneliness and its correlation with later-life cognitive decline and dementia. Findings suggest that childhood loneliness may serve as an independent risk factor for later-life cognitive decline and dementia, highlighting...
Lonely Britain
In a January 2025 Opinions and Lifestyle Survey (OPN), one in four adults (25%) in Great Britain reported feeling lonely "often or always" or "some of the time" (7% often or always; 18% some of the time). Younger adults consistently report higher levels of...
Our Coalition
