The Loneliest Time: 3 Ways Media Is Looking Forward To A Happier New Year

From AI companions to YouTuber snack bars, the new year will bring a new wave of content, creators, and communications driven by the increasing need to manage loneliness and foster connection. As the Loneliness Epidemic meets the Loneliness Economy, what can we expect for the future of connection in 2024? 

It’s that time of year again. Friends and family flying in, holiday parties packed with people, gathering around a warm fire… the moments are as familiar as they are inspiring. Reliable as Mariah Carey’s whistle tone, December brings a comforting blanket of messages from media and culture reminding us that the holidays are a time of connection and togetherness. 

But December, of course, can also be a time of elevated disconnection. The holiday blues aren’t just a vibe — most Americans report experiencing a period of intense depression or loneliness during the holiday season and most people with mental illness say the holidays make their issues worse.  

Each of these factors can make the holidays in 2023 a low point at a low time. By now, we’re all aware that we live in an age of escalated loneliness. Americans' circles of close friends have consistently been dropping since the 1990s, while overall feelings of isolation have simultaneously trended upward. 

In May of this year, we hit the tipping point. Surgeon general Dr. Vivek Murphy officially declared that the United States was experiencing an “epidemic of loneliness”, right around the same time that searches for “where to meet friends” had reached an all-time high on Google trends. On November 12th, the WHO announced a global initiative on combating loneliness. The battle against isolation is now a world war.

Epidemic isn’t an alarmist choice of words. Loneliness has profound effects on life expectancy, worldview, and general health — studies have compared its overall health impact to smoking. And this impact is especially bad for gen z and youth demographics, made even worse by the lingering effects of covid-19.   

Now at the peak of the holidays in 2023, the loneliness epidemic feels as familiar as Brenda Lee. We know it’s in the mainstream now — Tom Hanks recently mentioned it on an episode of Mythic Kitchen and Dr. Ruth Westheimer has been named NYC’s official loneliness epidemic ambassador. From MDMA therapy to Men’s groups, and Matthew McConaughey, we’re throwing everything at it. And in the UK, new government programmes are spending hundreds of millions of dollars towards offering simple solutions to stimulate social activities such as throwing parties and eating meals with friends and family.

Brands have not been slow to jump into the conversation. From senior care brands taking the subject on directly in television commercials to Tinder’s official partnership with the UK Government, brands are exploring ways to address the sincere needs of their audiences to connect. 

December 2023 marks the beginning of a new Connection Economy,  a response to the loneliness epidemic and the subsequent loneliness economy. And from that new fusion, 2024 will bring an explosive growth in new strategies for connection from brands and creators.

Three New Features of the Connected Economy 

PAID COMMUNITIES: EVERYBODY GETS THEIR OWN PRIVATE CLUB 

Social clubs have always existed for the ultra-wealthy, but in the age of the loneliness epidemic and a collapse in traditional ‘third places’ to connect, paid social communities are scaling up and hitting the mainstream. Groundfloor, a new California start up, is taking the model of pricey millennial gathering spaces like Soho House and Neuhouse ($2500-$3000 for annual membership) and offering it at the inclusivity-focused price point of $200. 

“There’s always been an issue once you start to hit this age range,” says Groundfloor co-founder Jermaine Ijieh. “We start to lose institutions where we used to build communities, such as places of worship, colleges, offices, schools…Once you leave your 20s, it sort of feels like a social purgatory.”

This approach was seen everywhere in 2023 — private clubs sprang up in New York and LA and invite-only parties and newsletters proliferated online. This year, exclusivity has successfully been leveraged as an incentive for connection. Whether the barrier to entry is a fee or simply being in the know, creatively and sensitively limiting access is the key to approaching pervasive loneliness from a business perspective.

At a time when high-end restaurants are launching private club versions of themselves for the elite’s elite, paying $200 for club access almost feels populist.  

An even lower price point for paid community access that may be the most influential of all? The tens of thousands of communities that exist through Patreon, Substack, or YouTube creator subscriptions, which often live on Discord as thriving micro-communities. These creators have quickly become some of the most influential voices in fashion, beauty, sports, and more. Paid communities aren’t just empowering creators - they’re increasingly changing the shape of media. 

THE STREAM IS ALIVE: CREATORS WIN AND INSTITUTIONS FLOP 

Podcasters, streamers, YouTubers, Substackers…it’s a creator’s world and we’re just living in it. The most powerful brands of tomorrow won’t be created by institutions. Instead, 2024’s most successful new ideas will be built by creators and powered by connection. The success of creator-powered brands like Emma Chamberlain’s personalised coffee company and Mr. Beast’s Feastables in 2023 merely mark the mainstream tipping point of this trend.

It’s no secret that what drives the success of these brands is not the product quality but the personal connection built between the creator and their audience. Internet creators have long outscored both brands and celebrities on audience engagement metrics, and at a time when loneliness is on the rise, it’s no surprise that audiences put a premium value on communicators who make them feel connected. 

YouTubers like Emma Chamberlain and Mr Beast are more than just stars to millions of fans — they’re friends and older siblings. Unlike the celebrities of the past, these stars hear their audiences’ concerns at a time when it seems like many institutions aren’t listening. 

The quest for connection in 2024 represents a challenge for all institutions who fail to provide it. Successful brands and communicators will learn to partner with creators, if not emulate the structure of the creator economy in their own right. 

SOCIALISING AS A SERVICE: BIG TECH BRINGS AI (AND MUCH MORE) TO CREATING CONNECTION

Future-shock AI companion apps like REplika and Eva AI have certainly made a splash in the overall culture — they tell us that the solution to the loneliness epidemic may not be through human effort, but rather through leaving it to the robots. Unfortunately, connecting to AI might not be a viable long-term solution. Research suggests that the more people feel connected to fictional characters, the lonelier they might actually feel in the real world. 

However, the stunty AI companions signal a trend toward creating compassionate connections through products, and we’ll see quite a few more companies build those products in 2024. From fitness and wellness companies building community features into their software, to the rise of community-focused astrology and daily prayer apps — what could be an older connection technology than faith? — content and product business structures will become connection first, content second. In 2024, effective communicators will understand how to make tech part of the solution, not the problem. 

The Most Connected Time 

In the age of loneliness, connection is the ultimate luxury. This year, 2023, was the breaking point for how much disconnection could be tolerated by our culture and media outlets. The new year will bring an explosion of new ways to bring us closer together. Content and communications which cultivate a feeling of connection will win in 2024 — by the holiday season next year, hopefully, we can all celebrate a less lonely time.