Loneliness by Design
Engagement Economies, Social Isolation, and the Limits of Digital Public Health Interventions
The rise of digital public health interventions to address loneliness often overlooks a critical contradiction. The very infrastructures that deliver these interventions — social media platforms, wellness apps, and AI-driven companions — are optimized for engagement and attention rather than relational well-being. What promises to alleviate loneliness can in fact deepen it, as the logics of engagement economies prioritize clicks, retention, and data extraction over meaningful connection.
This project investigates how social media platforms, algorithmic content curation, and AI-mediated interactions contribute to the production and amplification of loneliness. By focusing on youth in North America, it examines how engagement-driven infrastructures reshape experiences of social isolation and how they interact with broader public health concerns.
The study combines critical analysis of emerging technologies with research on communication, design, and public health. Its aim is not only to critique existing interventions but also to foreground the structural dynamics that make loneliness a recurring and systemic outcome of digital culture.
Output: Dwyer, L. (2025). Loneliness by Design: The Structural Logic of Isolation in Engagement-Driven Systems. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph22091394
Current stage: Complete
Canadian perspectives on loneliness
Digital communication as meaningful connection
This perspective piece considers loneliness and its relationship to communication, connection, and technology by reviewing the origins and lessons from the field. It begins with a search for an operational definition, then examines the differences between experiential (situational/isolation-based) and existential (continuous, non-situational) loneliness. Technology is addressed as both a hindrance and a tool for alleviating loneliness with the example of companion robots as an emerging technology for loneliness mitigation. Cultural differences in experiences of loneliness, specifically as a public health issue, are in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada. Concepts of social and emotional loneliness, individualism and collectivism, socioeconomic status, vulnerability, and lived experience are explored and provide an emphasis on ‘meaningful connection’ in the study of loneliness.
Current stage: Complete
Isolated Circuits
Human Experience and Robot Design for the Future of Loneliness
This dissertation explored how lived experiences of loneliness can inform the design of social companion robots. Using a human–machine communication framework, I examined the intersections of design, communication, and public health, with a focus on the systemic factors that shape both loneliness and access to technology.
The study used surveys, expert interviews, and in-depth conversations with individuals who have experienced loneliness. Findings suggest that while social companion robots can play a role in mitigating negative experiences, they are best understood as tools that support human connection rather than replace it. The research also highlights how people often view robots as suitable for “others” such as older adults or those with disabilities, even if they are hesitant to see themselves as potential users.
By combining insights from loneliness studies, social robotics, and human–machine communication, this work positions loneliness not only as a public health challenge but also as a meaningful human signal, similar to hunger, that acknowledges our need for connection. The dissertation contributes to critical discussions about how future technologies might be designed with human experiences at the centre rather than reduced to engagement metrics or technical capabilities.
This work was completed under the supervision of Dr. Frauke Zeller as a requirement for the completion of my PhD in Communication and Culture at Toronto Metropolitan and York Universities.
Current stage: Complete