What's your creative solution to solve the loneliness epidemic?

Walkable neighborhoods with affordable places to hang out.

Double the minimum wage and standardize a four day work week. People need more free time and resources in order to socialize effectively.

Couple this with providing safe and comfortable community spaces and every things peachy.
No, the local Starbucks/any place of business does not count.
- This is a big one for me. Decoupling social activities from consumerism so people can access human connection without implicit or explicit paywalls.

More public transit and more public spaces. Transit that you don’t have to think about taking (because it’s safe, frequent, and cheap or free) takes you to new places or to familiar places more often, and lets you meet more people more often. And going outside and doing shit is just good for you, I’m sorry to report.

I agree. I think a big part of the issue is that going out to do things is just so expensive these days. There aren't any "third places" for people anymore.
- The neighboring village just built a smallish sk8erpark for the youth. Quite nice finally seeing kids outside again. When walking the dog I feel like I haven’t seen kids doing kids stuff since like forever
Doesn't work. I live in Hong Kong, which has some of the world's most efficient public transport systems. People don't actually talk. They just look at their phones. A train cart can be full of people but no conversation.
- Public transit isn’t for socializing, it’s for traveling. Public spaces like parks, libraries, squares, etc that don’t require payment to use are for socializing.
This is the best answer !fuckcars

Step 1

Demolish all housing - everyone is homeless now

Step 2

Mandate that everyone design their own silly costume - this is all you're allowed to wear

Step 3

Legalize and subsidize all the fun drugs - everyone gets a weekly allowance of shrooms, ecstasy, etc

Step 4

Loneliness is officially replaced with several other problems

Username checks out

Just force everybody to interact. Obligatory meetings for the whole village/city district/city block (depending on size of population) every saturday morning with local news, coffee and cake and maybe games or time for chatting.

Nationalizing dating sites.

These sites work great to match people when corpos aren't allowed to fuck with the algorithms

We turn the Internet off at the weekends

Just have a war. Nothing brings people together like necessity and shared trauma.

Don't worry, that war isn't far off.

For a lot of people in suburbia, the entire concept of indoor "third spaces" is mostly "pay to play" at the end of a drive. A big exception to this is/were shopping malls, but those aren't always close by. To get to more a functional social fabric, we have to provide more convenient ways of interfacing with our neighbors that don't always require money to change hands.

Perhaps this is a predictably orange-pill response, but we need to change zoning in a big way. Each suburban development has the street plan and infrastructure to support small businesses and common spaces, walking-distance from everyone's front door. All it takes is to allow small-scale commercial development in corners of these collections of tract-homes and, just like that, you can have something like a functional village. Beyond that, encouraging more development of community recreation space, both indoor and outdoor, would go a long way to provide a place for people to mingle.

Edit: strip-malls don't count. They're often at the very edge of residential areas, and are tied up with way more capital than what I'm talking about. That's why they're made up of franchises, require ridiculous amounts of parking, and contribute to "stroads" and all the knock-on effects and hostile architecture that requires.

Legitimately stop treating phones like a necessity. Leave them at home more. Treat apps more like accessories and less like doorways.

Opt more for going in person to places to do things. By bike or transit whenever you can. Go to public events at your local parks and venues. Attendance is its own form of support, too. Anything we can do to purposely put ourselves in front of other people who share different perspectives than ourselves is good for us.

I think a lot of people don’t realize that there is a sense of responsibility when it comes to putting ourselves out into the world. If you think you’re capable of helping others, simply being a positive person in a public place, even just to have some fun meeting with friends, is a step in the right direction to building a better world. Nature will eventually setup a situation for you to be called upon. But this never happens from in your house or apartment.

For that first point let’s bring back phone booths, but somehow make them work with in the modern world.

no more social media

For starters, Ubi, and then expansive and free public transit for all and accessible for all including disabled people, more free places to just go and exist, no facism and more community. That's just for the beginning though

Healthcare too.
Need those antidepressants before I even have the energy to touch grass.

Be comfortable being alone.

Multi dwelling houses: a house with a central living area and apartments of different sizes linking in to it.

The central area has a big kitchen, dining, play area, halls link it to a 1-bed, 2-bed and 3-bed apartments each with a little kitchen as well.

You can be on your own in your apartment or go use the big kitchen, join trivia night, etc

This is basically my uni dorm rn. It's great until people leave their mess everywhere in the shared kitchen. Hence the tiny private kitchen, but we don't have those ;-;

Is it too harsh to say to outside and interact with people?

it's lethally hot outside
- I live in one of the hottest areas in the US and I still find ways to get outside.

Hamsters? I didn't know y'all enough to trust you with cats or dogs outright.

Parks full of cats?

Get a personality. It worked for me!

Structured way of spending a lot of time in the same environment with other people with similar goals. "Go out on your own and make friends" doesn't work for many of us, additional free time will not help.
There's a good reason most people make long-term friendships in school and university, we need a similar space where we are surrounded by the same people every day (even though we may not like all of them). I have no idea what could it be since our society frowns upon such ideas.

Before Covid the office kinda took this role, however it was a gamble and not voluntary.

It doesn't have to be structured. It just has to give opportunities for repeat interactions, and maybe a promise of future interaction with the same person, in that low pressure environment.
Dog parks have a bunch of dogs mingling, so their owners will often have the opportunity to get to know each other.
Neighbors who see each other often have an opportunity to get to know each other. That goes for work neighbors, too, even if they work for another employer entirely (but in the same building or something.
Regulars at a coffee shop, restaurant, bar, or gym might learn to recognize each other and go from exchanging pleasantries to actually getting to know each other (and the staff).
Church isn't as big a thing as it was a few generations ago, but any kind of social meetings, from support groups to volunteer associations, give the opportunity to work together for a common goal.
This is where hobbies and free time come in. And I'm not going to knock video games and other hobbies where you might interact with people online, but there is something fundamentally different about repeated in-person interactions. So it's worth making sure that your routine includes regular interaction with people in low-stakes settings.

The reason there were mountain men in the old days is that they appreciated nature and they didn't feel alone though they often were. It's not that hard to rekindle that feeling you only have to work at it a little. I was taking walks in the woods back when I was in grade school and I seldom feel alone though it's harder to feel like that in a city.

Less pants

Fighting fascism, together.

what if we kissed next to the nazi we just curb stomped? 👉 👈

My shitpost response is that I personally plan to be sluttier.

My serious response is that social media needs to be more social.
I hate Facebook because it’s just an advertising platform, but I don’t know what is going on if I avoid it. I wish there was a way to just share social calendars with all my friends. Like - I want a group tracker that one-click adds stuff that I find interesting. I want to only see stuff certain folks have added to their tracker, and have the ability to share with folks what stuff I’m sharing to share, vs what I’m sharing because I’m actually going to attend something. Make it easy to connect with folks, not advertisers.

Then make it. Everyone fucking hates Facebook, the time is now!
Also, I'm totally on board with the slut strategy. From a utilitarian perspective, I'm making the world a better place one orgasm at a time
- Sadly, I don’t have that ability, but I would gladly cheer on whoever does have that ability.

One night a week of mandatory, free, tabletop RPGs hosted in libraries, council buildings, etc. D&D (or even a good roleplaying game) for everyone! Player groups are mixed up every two months to ensure multiple opportunities for bonding with new people.

I began offering weekly board game gatherings and dinners for the public, and, aside from the rocky start (no one at the first 2 events), every gathering has always gotten a minimum of 3-8 people here in West Allis, WI!

I've been using this website in conjunction with a Facebook group: https://gamenight.host/@wa_bgn

Need to bring back Internet cafes.

Did those actually provide any sort of social outlet?
That’s similar to the reason my company gives for having to be in the office but I work on the computer and go home. The only people I interact with are my remote peers

I don't think there is a solution. I think this is the path and these are the results.

Spend less time online, do less digital activities.

I do more IRL, in-person, activities. Any kind of activity most of us somehow forget we used to do well before Internet and digital was a thing can still be done without the Internet and without a computer of any kind.

In-persons is intimidating but it also helps keep away the armies of online trolls and haters that online thrive to hurt other people. Provided one behaves like a decent human being, it's very rare people IRL will hate on anyone for goofing up or for not agreeing with them. It's ok.

I also do as much as I can the analog way, without anything digital. It helps. Be it to write or sketch, or do stuff with my hands. Heck, even me using a paper agenda instead my phone will regularly trigger surprised/interested questions from people that otherwise would probably never have talked with me to begin with ;)

Took up Yoga and BJJ for physical activity. Volunteering with a charity a friend of a friend runs handy out seasonal survival supplies to homeless. Creative outlet next but I'm indecisive there so far.
My friend pool is recovering by going outside to the same places repeatedly, can confirm.

Increase taxes on places that sell take home alcohol and decrease tax on alcohol sold from licenced venues.

It should be cheap to go out.

a government dating app that has no algorythm, no payment, punishes mass scrollers, and has a ton of admins who actually ban the idiots out. we have the technology, but its all enshitificated.

This would work approximately as well as all the current apps. The people you want to date are either already in relationships, date without using the apps, aren't dating right now, or simply don't want to date you because you aren't their type or aren't good enough for them. The idea that the evil corporations know exactly who your perfect match is and are keeping them from you is a fantasy. The fact is, dating apps don't work for most people because most people don't put the effort in to present themselves well and put themselves out there.
- I don't know man, i think the simpler answer of "capitalism and profit motive create incentives that don't yield good outcomes" is compelling. Okcupid was better and more feature rich before Match bought it.
  There is some user error on the apps, though, as you say.
There are at least 2 open source dating apps that I've seen, although one of them has 4chan branding. Not sure about the other.

Lets cap the population of cities to 10 000 and make everyone live in a small town.

1000 even, humans suck when the repercussions of their actions aren't immediately known and actionable by everyone around them.
You're a lot less likely to get away with ripping someone off if your grocery store clerk and the local restaurant server will literally kick your ass to the curb when they find out.

Make friends in meat space. Have activities you do with other people regularly

Keep people in adjacent cages on a big rectangle of concrete next to a swamp so they get all the social time they need. Kid Rock plays to keep up morale every Friday night.

Talk to old people. They have time to listen. Delete all social media.

Capitalism is a root cause. Let's get rid of that, or if that's too extreme that severely regulate it.

Jail all of Facebook's decision makers. Seize it (investors get nothing), and either shut it down or revert it to a simple message board. Require moderators. Ban the trash (eg: sovereign citizens groups). Remember that time they tried to see if they could make people sad by changing the algorithm? Find those people and ruin them.

Pay labor more. Work them less. I'd just do basic income, personally.

Make more walkable spaces. Fuck car culture. You don't meet anyone when you drive. Everywhere could have local spots where you see regulars.

More free public events. Brooklyn does "movies under the stars". There's also like yoga classes, bird watching, concerts. More of that.

Offer free education for anyone who applies in good faith. Offer classes on a range of subjects, but honestly I think a lot of people would benefit from lessons and practice on "how to talk to people" and public speaking.

Kind of a ramble. But I think if you leave capitalism in place, you're going to have problems. "Everything has to make the owners as much money as possible, immediately" isn't a formula for a good life.

Get rid of smartphones entirely.

I think the big challenge now is to create a method of online dating that isn't a miserable experience for most of its users, but if I had a creative solution for that, I'd be rich.

Other than that, AI friends. That's the future.

Have those AI friends play matchmaker between their human companions, solves both problems.
- AI would be a good matchmaker between people who were honest, but I think that doesn't address the main problem with online dating. That problem (at least for heterosexuals) is that there are a lot more men than women participating. I think women don't like online dating because they get harassed by creeps and they're worried that even someone who seems nice will turn out to be a creep in real life. Creeps will be willing to lie to a matchmaking AI because they don't actually care about compatibility and just want the "one weird trick" that gets women to have sex with them.

Chatbots

Sport and art
low cost and free places to do sport and art
linked together by public transit and clean, safe places to walk, run or cycle (or scoot or skate or whatever)
a shorter working week, so people have time to do the above
a higher minimum wage, so people can afford the (ideally low, if necessary) costs involved

So, e.g., lots of parks with publicly accessible five-a-side football pitches, ping-pong tables, basketball courts, skateparks whatever - that's your sport. The parks also have bandstands or outdoor theatres, where there's space for that.

Public libraries with rooms people can hire (or use for free) for book clubs, sewing circles, art classes - that's your art.

Good thing about the above is that all these ideas already exist in lots of forms, you just pick whatever works best for your current situation.

As any other problems, it's an issue with political will

Have minimum delivery fee to force people to visit physical store over "online shopping" and promote farmer marker and city-centre (village-centre) shopping so people interact with each other
End-up US style suburbanization, these nice house in a quiet area are great to sleep-in but means you're away from every social activity, and when you're too young/too old to drive it turns into house arrest
Increase subsidises for non profit-club, especially for the one having under 25 and above 65 members If you go playing scrabble, theatre or practice Karate you stop being lonely
Carpooling parking and lanes to push worker to interact with people living nearby

Have minimum delivery fee to force people to visit physical store over “online shopping” and promote farmer marker and city-centre (village-centre) shopping so people interact with each other
I have a neighbor that like goes to work early morning and comes home very late at night. I don't even know if they have a day off.
They had to order food and groceries to delivered to their door. Like every few days.
Not sure why you wanna punish people who already don't have much free time.

Easy, stop considering any kind of digital communication as social interaction, it might seem like it but it is not.

We call it social media, social networks, communities, groups but rarely think about the individuals within them, it's I saw on Facebook or according to Reddit. We tend to think about the entire platform as a single entity, we barely notice the names of the users.

Messaging apps. How often do we ask to someone how's going? And to how many people? We might spend the whole day in the group chat of our actual friends and still not know if they are fine or not.

Live with friends.

Go to open mic or karaoke nights. Hype everybody up. Talk to people after their performance.

Start a hobby and find a local group to do your hobby with other people. Sometimes if you’re really into the hobby the group will find you. E.g. you’re at the park doing your hobby and see other people doing your hobby. You talk to them and they know a group of people doing it too.

Assuming your job doesn’t involve much face to face interaction, volunteer somewhere in person and talk to the people you’re working with and the people you’re serving.

Set up a booth at a high foot traffic area with a sign that says, “Free jokes.” Or “Free Magic.” Memorize some decent jokes or magic tricks and do them. Talk to people. Ask if they want you to perform at their house for their friends. Become the token magician friend.

For me, working in human services does the trick. Over the summer I take a vacation to heal body/mind, and swap to spending more time on MMOs, a Mud, and making sure I go “out” somewhere at least once a day. Even just to the library.

Go to the bar, drink, tip well. At least the bartenders will want to socialize when they can, even if only for their own self interests (tips). Also, other patrons might be in the same boat, and you can commiserate over drinks!

Mandatory copulation every 14 hours.

The Lobster

Turn off internet access, or throttle it to the minimal usable speed.

Try and find where my invisible friend went then hang out with them again.

Plenty of good real solutions in the comments here. My creative solution is to add a feature to everyone's phone that automatically will FaceTime them with someone also on their phone in the area. You can't turn it off, you can only add people to your default list. No guarantee they're who you connect to though.

I fear that would just turn into a system for forcing surprise dick pics onto people

Is the epidemic one of loneliness or one of improper socialization, a background fear of people and purposelessness? Sadly, idk how to make people change their minds and hearts besides just talking to them and hoping something sticks.

Abolish digital slavery and publicly code and fund the public commons with no scraping or exploitation whatsoever. Restore the rights of autonomy and self determinism required for a citizen in a democracy and people will return to the culture that existed before google won its privateer piracy charter to digitally enslave everyone in exchange for free email and search results because the US was too backwards to fund the fundamental public commons required for real democracy and was itching for slavery again at the first opportunity of going unnoticed.

Why u need creative? If u actually wanna fix it all u need is a shared social activity with a regular attendance of everyone. And would u look at that we just reinvented religion and church.