Loneliness in the Digital Age: Building Strategies for Empathy and Trust

Loneliness is a complex emotion that impacts upon an individual’s sense of social-relatedness, health and wellbeing. While a large amount of scholarship has tackled the issue of chronic loneliness, the issue of transient loneliness has thus far not received significant attention in academic research. In this position paper, we discuss the role that technology may play in ameliorating experiences of transient loneliness for individuals most at risk of it, and reflect on how technology can promote empathy for, and between, people who are temporarily separated from their loved ones and home communities. We outline a large-scale research project that involves collaboration across health and social psychology, the creative arts, design and HCI exploring these issues, and speculate upon new applications of social technologies that may enhance empathic relations between disparate groups and individuals.