We need the Tiktoks of the world to realize their responsibility: users get addicted to the apps in order to numb their feelings of loneliness. So we'd need an intervention within these apps that makes them unbearable for the lonely, combined with a healthier way to engage with loneliness.

Imagine TikTok asking you "you've scrolled for 30 minutes. You might be in a loneliness spiral. Write down the name of someone you would like to be closer to."

TikTok does in fact remind you, quite often, that you've been scrolling for a while, and suggests taking a break. Last year, for most of each day, I would just ignore this and keep scrolling. I'd see it so many times each day. That wouldn't change if they added a suggestion like writing a name down. I'd still ignore it, and I think most people in the same situation would too. But when I was at the store, or walking to the store, that's when someone could have found a way in, and been able to get me to make a connection and open up.

Sure, in the same way gambling companies tell you to "Gamble responsibly" at the end of their advert to get you to gamble more.

Imo short form video with infinite scrolling is straight up poison and it's impossible to resolve without just completely destroying it.

Or hear me out, puts you in video call with someone watching the same short as you. Involuntary friend

Omegle + TikTok sounds like a very bad idea.

There are, of course, multiple causes for loneliness. We can't fix them all with one clear action. Here are the main five, in my view:

First, social media. It's too easy to temporarily forget about your loneliness by staying home and doomscrolling or watching TV.

Second, increased mobility. People move around the whole continent now for work, removing them from their closest and oldest social connections.

Third, God is dead. Churches as community centers are dying out. Young people don't trust them anymore, because they don't believe in God, and because churches had many scandals. Secular community centers are very rare and struggle with funding.

Fourth, work is more stressful now. There used to be more time to socialize, but in our quest for productivity, work became denser with fewer idle times.

Fifth, fewer people want to have kids. Much has been written about this.

Now what can we do at societal scale? First of all, study the phenomenon more closely. Who is lonely? Who isn't? Which interventions work? Which cultural factors are important? At your local scale, you can just call or meet a friend.

> Fourth, work is more stressful now. There used to be more time to socialize, but in our quest for productivity, work became denser with fewer idle times

The we here is not most people.

The quest for higher productivity is not something people really care about.

I immediately went and looked for it too!

I also tried to see any vulnerable sabotage spots that would put my electricity out, but that seems harder.

Seems fine as long as the startup has a lawyer that makes sure the contracts are not too out of the ordinary. If they also just use AI, their blind spots will overlap with you blind spots and I wouldn't trust the process completely.

you're missing the fact that OS developers like ads, because they want the OS to be a platform where devs can make money.

I avoid ad supported apps, so if those devs move to companies that I support, it might actually help me?

If it damages the the OS, that’s a problem for me on a Mac/ios but not so much with Ubuntu.

It’s not that long ago that I was paying for OS updates (that seems wild, I had to go and check). If it went back to that and I had no ads, it would be a straight win.

I think you're simply experiencing a power differential. You are at the mercy of the institution, and you're scared that the email will mean bad consequences for you.

That framing resonates a lot. It really does feel less about the content and more about the imbalance — someone else has information or authority over you, and you don’t yet know what it means for you.I hadn’t thought of it explicitly as a power differential before, but that explains why the anxiety hits before any facts are known.

very good start! I hate to be that guy, but I'd like if you had an imprint and privacy policy on the site ;)

Good feedback! I'll definitely be filling that kind of content in as I go.

the privacy policy link is also broken

It's often quite reasonable to try to change the world, so I think this is wrong.

Sometimes the world is even easier to change than yourself.

it's more - it also has email, chat via Matrix, a Wiki, video conferencing and a few other things.

isn't the metadata from Matrix public? at least, if federation is on? seems useful to the OSINT community but I'd think public offices would have an issue with existing metadata about who is talking to who and when.

Yes it is, but I think you might be assuming that they are even putting their homeserver on the public internet.

But even if it is, then as long as federation is off, nobody else will see any metadata but them.

metadata from Matrix is never 'public' (i.e. visible to the public). It's visible to only the admins of the servers participating in a given conversation.