I’m a little late to this discussion, but I first want to say thank you for this post! This is a topic I’ve been interested in of late and your post filled in a lot of gaps in my knowledge.
I see the potential for this to be tractable for EA funders and entrepreneurs, because non-EA funders might be incentivized to fund the deployment of interventions that are effective enough. It’s unfortunate that lonely people are less healthy and less productive, in addition to having lower life-satisfaction, but this phenomenon may have a silver lining. There might be interventions that benefit lonely people, and that also provide enough benefit to their employers and/or insurers for those companies to be financially motivated to provide them. An intervention might not clear the EA bar for $/DALY or $/WELLBY, but if it provides a favorable return on investment for employers and insurers, it has the potential to be deployed at scale. An EA funder might still need to fund the development of the intervention, demonstration of its effectiveness, and the spreading of information about its effectiveness. And EA entrepreneurs would need to do the work.
There’s an organization called the Foundation for Social Connection that is funded by the Coalition to End Social Isolation. Two of the four members of the latter’s steering committee are large health insurers, and there are some large corporations among their members. The Foundation for Social Connection has an Innovation Accelerator that could be a good resource for organizations interested in this space. Some of the researchers cited in this post are affiliated with the organization.
In addition to employers and insurers, school districts are another possible funder for effective interventions. I know of a Social-Emotional Learning curriculum that aims to help students make “intentional connections.” Schools could potentially see short-term benefits that justify the cost (primarily the opportunity cost of classroom time) if the intervention improves students’ behavior, engagement, and well-being. Long-term benefits could be significant as well, but these would be more difficult to demonstrate.
One other thought: there might be benefit to thinking more broadly in terms of improving people’s relationships or connectedness, rather than just addressing loneliness. I would suspect that most people would benefit from some combination of (1) increased awareness of the importance of relationships for their physical health and emotional wellbeing; and (2) resources to help them improve their existing relationships and to form new high quality relationships.
I’m a little late to this discussion, but I first want to say thank you for this post! This is a topic I’ve been interested in of late and your post filled in a lot of gaps in my knowledge.
I see the potential for this to be tractable for EA funders and entrepreneurs, because non-EA funders might be incentivized to fund the deployment of interventions that are effective enough. It’s unfortunate that lonely people are less healthy and less productive, in addition to having lower life-satisfaction, but this phenomenon may have a silver lining. There might be interventions that benefit lonely people, and that also provide enough benefit to their employers and/or insurers for those companies to be financially motivated to provide them. An intervention might not clear the EA bar for $/DALY or $/WELLBY, but if it provides a favorable return on investment for employers and insurers, it has the potential to be deployed at scale. An EA funder might still need to fund the development of the intervention, demonstration of its effectiveness, and the spreading of information about its effectiveness. And EA entrepreneurs would need to do the work.
There’s an organization called the Foundation for Social Connection that is funded by the Coalition to End Social Isolation. Two of the four members of the latter’s steering committee are large health insurers, and there are some large corporations among their members. The Foundation for Social Connection has an Innovation Accelerator that could be a good resource for organizations interested in this space. Some of the researchers cited in this post are affiliated with the organization.
In addition to employers and insurers, school districts are another possible funder for effective interventions. I know of a Social-Emotional Learning curriculum that aims to help students make “intentional connections.” Schools could potentially see short-term benefits that justify the cost (primarily the opportunity cost of classroom time) if the intervention improves students’ behavior, engagement, and well-being. Long-term benefits could be significant as well, but these would be more difficult to demonstrate.
One other thought: there might be benefit to thinking more broadly in terms of improving people’s relationships or connectedness, rather than just addressing loneliness. I would suspect that most people would benefit from some combination of (1) increased awareness of the importance of relationships for their physical health and emotional wellbeing; and (2) resources to help them improve their existing relationships and to form new high quality relationships.