Project summary
What
Research and conceptual product design case study exploring how we can reduce loneliness by applying findings from social neuroscience to a digital product.
My role
All work was done by myself.
Key moment
Understanding that when an individual takes an action to reduce loneliness, it can inadvertently lead to deeper loneliness.
Solution
When neighbours facilitate events for each other, they activate the most powerful tool against loneliness; a sense of community trust and belonging. However, facilitating events - especially ones that reduce loneliness - is a skill. Therd helps lower the barriers to facilitating hyper-local events through training, guidance, and helping great event ideas travel to new neighbourhoods.
Why make a personal project about loneliness?
Because in my walkable urban neighbourhood, I observed something counter-intuitive. I saw that people often didn't even know their neighbours' names, let alone consider them friend candidates. However, when these same people moved to suburbs they quickly established close friendships within their community.
I had a hypothesis that renters are less likely to invest in establishing roots, since they don't feel like permanent residents. Rental areas also tend to be densely populated and include non-resident visitors, so I wondered if meeting more people - but with fewer repeat encounters - might make befriending harder. Since more Canadians are renting throughout their adult lives, this would point to an urgent need to improve the social function of rental neighbourhoods.
When I was gifted some time between jobs (ok... was laid off) I had the opportunity to dig into the topic. My research led me to conclude that modern humans are shockingly likely to become lonely and have many barriers working against their recovery - including the neighbourhood they live in. Luckily, it also indicated there's proven ways to prevent and treat loneliness that haven't been widely applied. In this case study I explore how a community event app could reduce loneliness even in the most isolating neighbourhoods.
Project goals
As a purely conceptual project with no stakeholders, I started by setting my goals.
Research part 1: what is loneliness, anyway?
Since I already had some assumptions and observations about loneliness, I started by seeking to disprove or validate them. I discovered that a brand new scientific field was already generating insights into loneliness, answering my questions and generating many more.
In this video I explore the science of loneliness, risk factors, symptoms, solutions, and why common-sense solutions seem to fail us.
Research part 2: understanding lonely people
Next, I conducted research to understand how lonely people seek solutions. I interviewed individuals recruited from in-person and online social groups about their loneliness, solutions they've tried, overall social goals, and other topics. Interviews occurred in person and over the phone, and used a free-flowing conversational format to help participants feel at ease.
I also sought to hear from the people my recruitment strategy wouldn't find - the people who weren't ready to admit or confront their loneliness, or who had given up hope. This was particularly important given how likely individuals are to become so risk-averse that they no longer seek social interactions. These insights were found in forums and help pages, as well as from interviewees who had previous experience in these stages.
This research was summarized into a persona, Kayla, who is deeply lonely, disappointed by her previous attempts to make friends, and is seeking change.
These FigJam notes (blurred for privacy) were taken during phone and in-person interviews. I collected information about what drove participants to seek change, current loneliness levels, desired social circles, and experience with tools and solutions. I also conducted more casual discussions at social meetups, seeking information about how people found the group and how it impacted their loneliness.
Kayla's Persona. She's deeply lonely, and is hoping to encounter a best friend or two who deeply connect with her. Unfortunately, this isn't often a successful way to end loneliness and can make her feel worse.
Research part 3: competitors
I analyzed and tested the solutions Kayla is likely to explore when her loneliness prompts action. In fact, I test-drove them so well I made several new friends! However, my success is not a recommendation. I believe these solutions can work better when the user is aware of the science of loneliness, understands that they're interacting with a lonely individual, and is able to intercept negative thought patterns (see my research video for more info on this.) There were many times when I observed potential for social harm in myself and others.
One of my most interesting findings was that a re-integration attempt (such as meeting a friend on Bumble BFF or attending a Meetup social hour) can lead to new social harm. This has the result of making users more lonely, making them passionately and vocally negative about the tool that lead them to harm, and making it even harder for them to recover.
SWOT analyses of top loneliness solutions, based on my interviews, research, and testing.
Putting it all together: why aren't we able to fix loneliness?
Lonely people aren't the same as non-lonely people.
Lonely individuals have physical, psychological, and behavioral differences that must be considered.
Solutions can become the problem
When an attempt to re-integrate into society fails, it can cause additional social harm.
One-time-use tools
Lonely people are risk-averse, so when a re-integration attempt causes harm they become less likely to re-try the same tool.
Community weakness causes loneliness
A low sense of belonging and trust is strongly correlated to loneliness. As communities weaken further and as loneliness strategies fail to target high-risk groups, we can predict a rise in loneliness.
Self-stigma blocks early action
Admitting loneliness and seeking solutions can be painful. This means that people don't explore loneliness solutions until they're already deeply lonely, making them less likely to succeed.
High reward, high risk
Many solutions imply finding a new friend will fix loneliness. However, the chances of two lonely individuals overcoming their biases and other symptoms is low, and chances of social harm are high.
My Hot Take
Common sense solutions can make loneliness worse. It's irresponsible to encourage lonely people to pursue re-integration without raising the chances of success, reducing social harm, or being transparent about the risks.
It's also unethical to create profitable tools that promise a solution yet cause additional harm.
Storytelling: Kayla tries to fix her loneliness
This journey map shows an example of a failed loneliness solution making Kayla chronically lonely. A misinterpreted social interaction with her friends triggers initial feelings of loneliness. She seeks solutions that connect her to social meetups and friend candidates. Unfortunately, due to loneliness’ impact on her and the types of re-integration she chooses, Kayla experiences more social harm and falls into chronic loneliness. (Sorry, Kayla 😢)
Luckily, there are several moments where she could exit the spiral.
Ideas and decisionmaking
I ideated potential solutions, ranging from a volunteer job listing page that uses specific social benefits to market jobs, to a befriending sidekick that helps users see where their lonely brain might be misleading them.
Given my project goals, I ranked my ideas by impact and suitability. Suitability includes how strong a case study could be created, how unique it is compared to other solutions, and my personal interest in the project.
I chose this idea because it has the potential to impact an entire neighbourhood's loneliness, is dissimilar from other solutions, and would be a complete and interesting design case study.
Interestingly, the most challenging part of this solution relates to non-lonely people. Based on my research, we already know lonely people attend social events and take other actions to reduce their loneliness. However, getting non-lonely people to facilitate events that are proven to reduce loneliness is a larger behavioural gap. To explore this, I created a behaviour statement describing an ideal future:
When a resident wants their neighbourhood to be more liveable, less lonely, or more aligned with their interests, (and they have a social personality and a smartphone) they will facilitate a local event.
Since my research focused on lonely people rather than non-lonely, social people likely to host events, I used this behaviour as an opportunity to do some additional research. Here, I explore some of the factors that make someone more or less likely to facilitate an event.
Promoting factors
Inhibiting factors
Based on the inhibitors and enablers, I identified ways to encourage the desired behaviour:
Use templates to simplify the planning process and raise confidence
Use community interest data to understand how engaged the neighbourhood is / how many people want to attend
Simplify communications and reduce redundant messaging for facilitators
Offer ways for facilitators to feel good about their role and event
Raise confidence in skills and reduce chance of social harm by offering facilitation training and guidance
Reduce costs by connecting facilitators to governmental and neighbourhood resources
Exploration and ideation
Now I had some ways to promote my desired behaviour, I started explorations. One of my favourite ways to explore ideas is through storyboard-wireframes. These help keep the context and user in mind as I explore how a product impacts their behaviour. Here, I explore how Kayla uses the app to attend an event.
Next, I used a draft app map to explore the overall shape of the app. This included how parts of the app change over time, for example how an event idea is "copied" from another community, converted into a proposal that the community can workshop and adapt to their unique needs and resources, and published so lonely individuals can encounter it.
This is the main foundation of Therd: how we can use existing facilitation knowledge, planning, and data to improve the odds of an event succeeding, as well as how we can share creative new community event ideas.
These wireframes explore the app structure and key moments
Iterations and refinement
Using Figma prototypes, I explored more in-depth user flows and UIs and refined the experience.
One major iteration was the removal of the in-app befriending feature which allowed users to mutually befriend the people they encountered at events, and to enter free time into the app. The feature allowed spontaneous hangouts when two friends had free time, and intended to help act on brief feelings of loneliness. However, I removed this feature due to the high risk of social harm if interest wasn't reciprocated, as well as the fact that Therd's events would already allow natural befriending thanks to its frequent casual interactions between neighbours.
Despite potentially giving users a way to act on temporary feelings of loneliness, this befriending feature had too many opportunities for social harm and was cut from the final designs.
Final designs: Therd Neighbourhoods
Over time, Kayla's neighbourhood becomes home to more low-barrier local events. As she attends these events, she feels a stronger sense of belonging and connection. With repeat encounters with her neighbours, Kayla builds new friendships and has fewer moments of loneliness. When she does feel lonely she attends events, heads to spaces where she can interact with neighbours, or plans to see her new friends. As her confidence raises, she explores ideas from other communities and instead of thinking "we could never do that here", she thinks "I could make this happen here!". Eventually, she decides to host her first event.
Part 1: Kayla decides to try facilitating her first event. She verifies that she's ready and aware of the risk, and then explores easy-to-run event ideas. She finds an idea that's proven to be easy to run, requires minimal planning or resources, and is already supported by her neighbours. She creates an event proposal from a template, where her neighbours can then contribute towards a realistic plan.
Part 2: Prompted by messages from prospective attendees, Kayla crowdsources dates and times and adjusts her plan. Based on previous event data, Therd then helps Kayla know when the event has a high chance of success, helping her feel confident as she publishes to a broader audience.
The story continues…
After a while using Therd to create events, the community has a deeper sense of belonging and trust, and residents are less likely to become lonely. Lonely individuals are able to choose events that are proven to help, such as events with cultural themes and skilled facilitators. Over time, they experience successful re-integrations, and loneliness becomes a helpful reminder to engage with community and friends rather than a permanent state.
Neighbours start to chat with each other in the street, friendships start to form, and newcomers to the area are greeted with a strong, inviting community. Neighbours who move away have the skills and confidence to build a sense of community.
Facilitators improve their skills over time and find their role fulfilling. Homegrown event ideas get promoted on the Therd Discovery page, where other communities can see and copy them. People in nearby neighbourhoods hear about successful events, and create their own instead of commuting in. Some events are so popular that Therd takes note, and local facilitators work with the Therd team to build an event template that's even easier to facilitate.
Eventually, the demand for accessible, local hosting spaces and drop in loneliness levels prompts municipal governments to provide more hosting spaces, resources, and funding. With more indoor space, events are no longer at the mercy of weather. Kayla's neighbourhood can now run events through heatwaves, snowstorms, and extreme conditions.
… well, we can dream!
Next steps
(if this was a real-world project!)
Build ethical pilot tests
Due to the risk of causing social harm to already-vulnerable participants, usability testing was not part of my process. In the real world I would work with social neuroscientists, UX researchers, and a partner municipality to ethically pilot test several ideas.
Study communities with low loneliness
By comparing cities like Montreal and Toronto, we gain insights into how culture relates to loneliness. This also helps discover event types that already reduce loneliness without waiting on a lengthy clinical studies.
Investigate how municipalities fund and purchase SaaS
Loneliness is a public health and social issue. I would work with municipalities, governments, and community organizations to explore how to fund and deliver a solution that's free for end consumers. This approach emphasizes society's role as both cause and solution, gets help to the people who need it most, and ensures there are enough users to create grassroots neighbourhood change.
Learn more about small-scale event facilitation
This concept depends on creating new, local facilitators - a group that was not part of my initial research. I would work with existing facilitators, local event advocates, and facilitation trainers to explore ways to build facilitation skills and prompt local action.