Your Loneliness Is Their Best-Selling Product
Living alone has become easier and more convenient than ever. Large corporations have built an entire business model around it.
By Jakub Dymek
There is one thing that the internet — as it forced its way into our lives in the first decade of the 21st century — promised above all else. That we would never be alone again. People from all over the world, friends and strangers alike, within arm's reach. Uninterrupted contact with family and a live stream of information about what our old school friends were up to. The ability to join any subculture and share even the most niche interests. People willing to play — in both the innocent and the less innocent sense — 24/7, in every time zone.
The Loneliness Epidemic in a Thicket of Connections
No one can say that, in this respect, the great digital platforms, smartphones, and the surrounding thicket of screens and notifications have let us down. On the contrary: we are glued to devices from which someone is always talking to us, eager to sell us something, grab our attention, or urgently share even the most trivial piece of information.
Nor can one deny that if we truly want to stay in touch with the people close to us, we have better tools to do it than ever before. And finally: there is no shortage of entertainment or opportunities to meet someone. Algorithms are happy to take the first step on our behalf.
