Young or old, loneliness is fast becoming a defining phenomenon of our age. The blame is often placed on modern communications technology, especially the virtual type. We’d rather message our friends than meet them.
The tech industry is obviously keen to promote the contrary. Facebook, which has almost 1.5bn active users, promises to make “the world more open and connected”. Dating-app Tinder, meanwhile, promotes itself as “like real life, but better” – so much better, in fact, there are suspicions lonely married folk are signing up in droves.
Chatbots take this to the next level. Meet Cortana. Available on the Windows Phone 8.1, the Microsoft creation will text-message you back and forth about everything from your football team’s latest game to your date last night.
“Whether it’s to keep you in the loop with your world or to help you manage your everyday life, Cortana is there for you,” Microsoft states. Much like a good friend then.
In China, Cortana’s phone-based “little sister” Xiaoice has attracted millions of loyal followers since its introduction last year. Dubbed the “girlfriend app”, the chatbot uses artificial-intelligence software to remember details from previous discussions and mines the web for question-and-answer style conversations.
Such is the emerging popularity of chatbots that Bletchley Park, home to Alan Turing’s famous Enigma code-breaking machine, runs an annual competition to celebrate the phenomenon. Steve Worswick, a 45-year-old IT technician and 2015 finalist, attracts a couple of thousand interactions to his Mitsuku chatbot every day. People log in from as far afield as the Vatican City and US navy ships in mid-ocean to talk to the “artificial lifeform”.
“Some of them [users] are just plain weird, but many are lonely and looking for companionship,” says Worswick.
Isolation
The role of technology in helping resolve loneliness is especially pertinent to groups prone to social isolation, like new mothers.
“Parenting can feel pretty lonely at times [and] the comfort of instantaneous responses from people who’ve been down the same path can be quite profound,” says Sarah Crown, editor of Mumsnet, a parents’ networking site that attracts more than 14 million visits per month.
The same could be said for those with disabilities that prevent them from easily getting out and meeting people or that create a barrier between them and others. Two-thirds of British people feel awkward speaking to disabled people, according to research from disability charity Scope.
Virtual technology can enable others to see disabled people “for who they are rather than just seeing the disability”, says Beth Grossman, head of policy and research at Scope.
Scope runs an online platform to help disabled people and their families and carers to talk, connect and share experiences. It is also supporting assistive technologies such as phone and tablet apps like the text-based communication aid Predictable.
Technology not enough
Technology is no panacea for loneliness, Grossman admits. It can be expensive (Predictable retails at £119.99), difficult to access or complicated to use (6.4 million adults in the UK have never used the internet) and it’s no substitute for genuine face-to-face relationships.
Elderly people represent another demographic for whom loneliness is often a prevalent problem, with one million saying they feel chronically lonely, according to the charity Age UK. Scientific research suggests acute loneliness has direct physical and mental repercussions, affecting mortality as much as smoking and increasing the likelihood of dementia.
When it comes to tech solutions, simply giving an older person an iPad or a smartphone won’t work, says psychologist Arlene Astell, a professor at Sheffield University’s Centre for Assistive Technology and Connected Healthcare.
“What we need are solutions that can tackle the reasons people become socially isolated or lonely – things such as decline in physical or mental health, reduced mobility, bereavement, family living at a distance, reduced social networks, perceived lack of social support low participation in social activities,” she states.
A good example of such adaptation is Mindings, a startup established by Stuart Arnott for his “technology-shy parents”. The app-based service, which runs on iPads, provides elderly people with a simple-to-use method of receiving text messages and photos from family and friends, and to follow their itinerary on a digital calendar.
“We have become a society where we feel we are in constant, regular contact with family and friends because we know how to use Facebook and Instagram, and we email and text. If elderly people don’t have access to these then they lose that connection,” says Arnott.
Technology means we are communicating differently. Used in excess, it may well provoke loneliness by replacing meaningful, tangible relationships with virtual interactions. But for those who find themselves socially isolated, it can provide an invaluable link to family, friends and the wider world around them.
