The Power of Connection - Towards a Society Without Loneliness
ConnectorS aims to overcome loneliness through the power of conversation. We spread awareness that loneliness can be resolved through communication and encourage more people to participate. Through this, we aim to highlight it as a social issue and ultimately lay the foundation for institutional support to alleviate loneliness.
To spread awareness that loneliness is an important social problem, we have designated November 11th as 'Loneliness Awareness Day' to widely promote this message. Our main target is the youth, but we welcome participation from all generations. We encourage participation across generations through connections with various institutions such as elderly welfare organizations and student groups. We await the participation of all those interested in the issue of loneliness.
Through the Loneliness Awareness Day campaign, we aim for the following indicators:
According to a survey conducted by Embrain, a Korean survey agency, in 2023, 53.6% of all respondents said they felt lonely. They mainly feel lonely due to [lack of financial resources], [absence of people to open up to or meet], [disconnection from human relationships], and [feeling of isolation as if alone in the world]. The current overall level of loneliness in our society is assessed as serious. People of all age groups are experiencing loneliness, and as a result, there is a high level of opinion that "the role of the state" is necessary to solve the loneliness problem. In modern society, individuals are fragmented, and the foundation for forming social trust or community culture has collapsed, leaving people with the problem of loneliness, especially in a state of disconnected social networks. Loneliness is not just a problem for the socially vulnerable, but a risk of modern society that everyone living in the modern era experiences. Loneliness is a problem of disconnection from human relationships, referring to the unpleasant feelings and experiences such as personal pain and hurt that occur when the quantity and quality of social connections are not fulfilled as much as an individual desires.
Korea, like Japan's policy focusing on solitary deaths and hikikomori, passed a partial amendment to the "Healthy Family Basic Law" (Single-Person Household Support Law) in 2018, and enacted the "Act on Prevention and Management of Solitary Deaths" in 2021, pursuing policies related to social isolation. In 2023, through the establishment and implementation of the 1st Basic Plan for Prevention of Solitary Deaths (23-27), which is a policy centered on the prevention and management of solitary deaths, 13 core tasks under 4 promotion strategies were implemented jointly by related ministries. Currently, Korea and Japan are trying to solve the problem by focusing on policies that address isolated people and the consequences such as solitary deaths. We think this is a form of policy that "mends the barn after the horse is stolen." This is because it is difficult to discover or make isolated subjects participate, and it takes a lot of time and effort. This doesn't mean we should eliminate these policies. From a long-term perspective, it is necessary to combine them with more effective methods. An effective method is to solve loneliness, which is the cause of isolation and solitary deaths. This is the direction and purpose that our team aims to pursue.
In British society, loneliness is a problem that seriously affects the lives of millions of people, and 6-7% of the total UK population feels lonely always or most of the time, which can be a serious long-term threat to their physical and mental health. To address the problem of loneliness, the UK appointed a Minister for Loneliness and a Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Loneliness in January 2018. Since the establishment of the Ministry of Loneliness, awareness of loneliness has increased, allowing discussions about loneliness issues from the early stages of COVID-19. As the issue of loneliness became public, the government quickly provided funds to charities and others to solve this problem. This is the direction we should also take. Loneliness can affect anyone. Experiences of loneliness can be diverse, but their impact can be deep and wide-ranging. Many people should consider it as one of the biggest public health challenges we face and respond accordingly. As a social disease, loneliness refers to the experience of suffering from unconscious and involuntary disconnection of social relationships. Therefore, the most effective way to solve loneliness is to help restore social relationships and gain a sense of social integration.
The world's largest survey was conducted with 55,000 people participating in the BBC's Loneliness Experiment in collaboration with the Wellcome Collection, and as a result, nine ways to overcome loneliness were presented. We aim to implement the following solutions by benchmarking this result and good policies and projects from long-standing non-profit organizations, governments, and for-profit organizations related to loneliness in the UK.
Purpose To recognize loneliness as a social problem that threatens the community beyond an individual's problem. The aim is to lead to the restoration of community by publicizing the sense of responsibility and participation of community members in solving the loneliness problem.
Overview