There's a quiet irony to modern life: more people are "connected" than ever, and more people report feeling genuinely alone than in decades of prior surveys.
The U.S. Surgeon General issued a formal advisory on the public health effects of loneliness and isolation, describing the scale of the problem and the role of real social connection in addressing it.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services ↗
Global polling backs this up at scale — loneliness isn't a fringe feeling, it's a widely shared, measurable experience across age groups and countries.
Gallup's global survey work has found that a substantial share of people worldwide report feeling lonely on a regular basis, cutting across income levels and regions.
Gallup ↗
Why a short video call helps more than another scroll
A five-minute conversation with someone real, camera-on, forces a kind of presence that scrolling never does. You can't half-pay-attention to a live conversation the way you can a feed.
That's not a small thing. Peer-reviewed research on social behavior has repeatedly found that even brief, low-stakes social interactions with unfamiliar people can measurably improve mood and reduce feelings of isolation.
Behavioral science research (published via JSTOR) has examined how everyday interactions with strangers affect wellbeing and social connection.
JSTOR — behavioral science research ↗
That's the whole reason Hiyoo exists: not a feed to scroll, not a profile to optimize — just a real conversation, matched in seconds, whenever you actually want one.