I'm Lonely. Who should I talk to?

Lauren Fratamico, Deb Roy

Abstract: Loneliness is becoming a global epidemic. As many as 33% of Americans report being chronically lonely, with similar percentages being reported in countries around the world. Additionally, this is a percentage that has risen in recent years. Many are turning to online forums as a way to connect with others about their feelings of loneliness and to begin to reduce these feelings. However, oftentimes, posts go unresponded to and online conversations do not take place, perhaps because those conversing did not find a connection with each other, potentially leaving the poster feeling even more lonely. This paper introduces a human-in-the-loop approach so that computers can mediate interactions online about loneliness and facilitate more intimate interactions. We also discuss ways to mitigate the bias when creating this system. The artificial intelligence in this approach takes into account the homophilous characteristics of the conversations that are taking place online by examining the homophily of the participants. Initial findings related to the correlation between homophily and successful conversations about loneliness on reddit are presented, and we lay the groundwork for being able to facilitate finding optimal conversation partners for those that are feeling lonely by proposing a human-in-the-loop approach.