Addressing Gen Z Loneliness Epidemic with Hinge

Today in the United States, Gen Z is feeling lonelier than any other generation. In fact, 61% of Gen Z adults report feeling lonely always or almost all the time. This loneliness epidemic is a threat to the love-filled world Hinge seeks to create, harming physical health, emotional development, social cohesion, and relationship building. This is why Hinge has made addressing this problem the core of its social impact work. But how might Hinge, a dating app, contribute to a world in which young people can not only find all types of meaningful connections but also sustain community IRL?

While public narratives around the loneliness epidemic put the onus on Gen Z — nagging them to simply put their phones down — our research showed that this generation already craves meaningful IRL connections but faces increasing challenges in creating them. 

Purpose created a narrative change campaign and a giving strategy focused on addressing the key barriers facing Gen Z: the stigma of loneliness and the lack of safe, identity-affirming, and welcoming spaces to find and nurture community IRL.

With inviting and reassuring messages, our campaign encouraged young people to find “their folks” and spend one more hour connecting with them IRL — whether they be chosen family, dance partners, a coffee crew or a Dungeons & Dragons party for nonbinary folks from Ecuador. No matter their identity, their folks are waiting for them out there.

Through different channels, activations and trusted messengers, Hinge could share ideas that were actually helpful and exciting — instead of speaking down to Gen Z.

A key part of the campaign was identifying and supporting accessible and affirming social clubs. Through a trust-based giving strategy, Hinge identified local change-makers that could turn a campaign idea into multiple engagement possibilities.

Hinge now plays a critical role in uplifting the importance of social clubs to address youth loneliness, while celebrating and supporting those who have made it their mission to foster connection and belonging today and into the future. 

In just the first year of the strategy, Hinge made grants to 40 small social clubs in LA, NY and ATL that are accessible and affirming to young people. They received over 200 applications, evidence of the relevance of this initiative and of a promising future of bottom-up, sustainable impact ahead. 

The long-term strategy will continue to guide Hinge’s social impact decision-making and help them measure its impact both directly and indirectly through their partners.