Loneliness goes viral as social media users embrace life alone

Social media users are embracing solitary routines as loneliness and solitude gain visibility online. Seoul office worker Kim Yu-rye shares activities such as watching animation, reading and practicing yoga alone, while creators abroad have attracted millions of views with similarly ordinary routines. The trend reflects the growth of single-person households, but experts say chosen solitude can become harmful social isolation when disconnection continues too long.

One-person households accounted for 36.1 percent of all Korean households in 2024, up from 27.2 percent in 2015.

In a 2024 survey, 48.9 percent of people in single-person households said they often or sometimes felt lonely, compared with 38.2 percent of the overall population.

Lana Issa attracted more than 8 million views for a video showing her eating frozen pizza alone and watching television on a Friday evening.

Sarah Jane Hoadley has about 360,000 followers, while videos showing her cleaning alone and attending a social event reached more than 10 million and 8 million views, respectively.

Lim Myung-ho described openly shared loneliness as a form of digital solidarity, while Kwak Keum-joo warned that prolonged disconnection can make forming relationships difficult.

Published Oct 12, 2026 3:29 pm KST

Office worker Kim Yu-rye shares photos on Instagram under the title "Hanging out alone is practice in liking myself." Courtesy of Instagram account @kimuyeah

"If you feel empty whenever you don't have plans, I want to tell you that you need time to develop the ability to deal with loneliness instead."

For years, social media has been a showcase for picture-perfect lives — luxury hotels, fine dining, designer goods, exotic vacations and bustling social circles. Now, a very different kind of lifestyle is drawing millions of views: staying home alone on a Friday night.

Kim Yu-rye, a 38-year-old office worker in Seoul, documents her solitary routines on Instagram. Her account, "kimuyeah," is filled with everyday activities she enjoys by herself, from watching animation after work and reading to practicing yoga. She shares tips with followers on how to spend time comfortably by themselves.

It was not always something she was comfortable showing publicly.

As someone without a spouse, romantic partner or children, Kim gradually found herself spending more time alone. She eventually stopped treating that reality as something that needed to be hidden behind carefully curated social media posts.

"I used to think I should only post special and beautiful moments on social media," Kim said in messages exchanged with the Hankook Ilbo on Oct. 6. "But as I spent more of my life alone, I came to acknowledge for myself that this is my everyday life."

She said she was surprised that content depicting her solitary routines resonated with so many people.

"People who spend time alone show each other their daily lives, and we find reassurance in that," she said. "I think it's important to acknowledge loneliness when we feel lonely, while not treating the time we spend alone itself as a failure or deficiency."

From picture-perfect lives to ‘#Nofriends’

Posts appear in Instagram search results for the hashtag "#Nofriends." Screenshot from Instagram

Kim is part of a broader shift taking place on social media, where loneliness and solitude are increasingly appearing alongside — and sometimes replacing — aspirational displays of wealth, relationships and social success.

The trend has even spawned terms such as "loneliness influencer" and "solitude influencer."

Rather than merely identifying themselves as people who live alone, some creators openly use hashtags such as "#Nofriends," "#Alone" and "#Loneliness," including posts about having no friends available to spend time with.

Vogue described the phenomenon in July by saying that loneliness influencers were taking over social media. While conventional influencers built aspirational identities around exotic travel, luxury clothes, immaculate homes, successful relationships and large groups of friends, the emerging creators were building compelling visions of life around precisely what they did not have.

The seemingly mundane content can attract extraordinary audiences.

Lana Issa, a woman in her 20s living in Canada, drew more than 8 million views for a video showing herself spending a Friday evening after work eating frozen pizza alone while watching television.

Issa described it as what a single woman living alone, without children or friends, does on a Friday night. The enormous response to an otherwise uneventful evening suggested that many viewers recognized something of their own lives in hers.

British cleaner Sarah Jane Hoadley, a single woman in her 40s, has similarly built a following by sharing what she portrays as an unremarkable life.

A video showing her cleaning and taking care of her home alone after work surpassed 10 million views. Another, in which she shared her experience of gathering the courage to attend an in-person social event, reached 8 million views.

Hoadley has about 360,000 followers.

Hoadley said in an August interview with the BBC that she had become an influencer by accident, adding that she never expected to get that many followers. The rise of such content comes as single-person households account for a growing share of society, including in Korea.

More people are living alone — and feeling lonely

According to Statistics Korea's "Single-person households in statistics 2025," released last December, one-person households accounted for 36.1 percent of all Korean households in 2024, up from 27.2 percent in 2015 — an increase of 8.9 percentage points.

But the data also points to a less comfortable side of living alone.

In a survey last year, 48.9 percent of people in single-person households said they often or sometimes felt lonely, compared with 38.2 percent of the overall population.

Shin Aromi, author of the essay "What Can I Do If I'm Good at Living Alone?" said the growing visibility of single-person lifestyles on social media is a natural consequence of demographic and social change.

"Social media content ultimately seems to follow the way people actually live," Shin said in an email interview with the Hankook Ilbo on Wednesday. "As the number of single-person households has increased over the past few years and more people no longer consider marriage a necessity, people's actual lives have also changed considerably."

Digital solidarity or deeper isolation?

Author Shin Aromi, who wrote the essay "What Can I Do If I'm Good at Living Alone?" shares Instagram content offering tips on "how to live alone without feeling lonely." Courtesy of Instagram account @sinaromii

The loneliness influencer phenomenon may offer something social media was not previously known for: reassurance that an ordinary, solitary life does not necessarily represent personal failure.

Experts say such content can create a form of "digital solidarity," emotionally connecting people who experience loneliness or isolation in their offline lives.

"At a time when single-person households account for more than one-third of all households, I believe solidarity through social media can help people living alone overcome loneliness," said Lim Myung-ho, a psychology professor at Dankook University.

"In the past, people shared only successful aspects of their lives on social media, intensifying social comparison," Lim said. "By contrast, openly expressing feelings of loneliness through social media can also be seen as a change in the function of social media itself."

But embracing solitude comes with a potential risk.

Voluntary solitude — choosing to focus on oneself rather than maintaining unnecessary relationships out of obligation — can have positive effects. Experts caution, however, that prolonged disconnection can turn solitude into social isolation.

"If disconnection from human relationships continues for a long time, people can gradually become comfortable with it, and eventually they may find it difficult to form relationships," said Kwak Keum-joo, professor emeritus of psychology at Seoul National University. "It is necessary to find an appropriate balance between voluntary solitude and maintaining interpersonal relationships."

This article from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, was translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Times.

随着孤独和独处在网络上日益受到关注，社交媒体用户开始拥抱独处生活方式。首尔上班族金裕礼（音译）分享了她独自观看动画、阅读和练习瑜伽等活动，而海外创作者也凭借类似的日常活动吸引了数百万的浏览量。这一趋势反映了单人家庭数量的增长，但专家指出，如果长时间与外界隔绝，这种选择性独处可能会演变成有害的社会孤立。

到 2024 年，韩国单人家庭占所有家庭的 36.1%，高于 2015 年的 27.2%。

2024 年的一项调查显示，48.9% 的单身人士表示他们经常或有时感到孤独，而总人口的这一比例为 38.2%。

拉娜·伊萨 (Lana Issa) 的一段视频吸引了超过 800 万次观看，视频中她独自一人在周五晚上吃冷冻披萨并看电视。

Sarah Jane Hoadley 拥有约 36 万粉丝，而她独自打扫卫生和参加社交活动的视频分别获得了超过 1000 万和 800 万的观看次数。

林明浩将公开分享孤独感描述为一种数字团结的形式，而郭锦珠则警告说，长时间的断联会使建立关系变得困难。

发布于2026年10月12日下午3:29（韩国标准时间）

上班族金裕礼在Instagram上分享了一组照片，标题为“独自一人出去玩是为了练习喜欢自己”。图片来自Instagram账号@kimuyeah

“如果你在没有计划的时候感到空虚，我想告诉你，你需要时间来培养应对孤独的能力。”

多年来，社交媒体一直是完美生活的展示舞台——豪华酒店、精致餐饮、名牌商品、异国度假和热闹的社交圈。如今，一种截然不同的生活方式正吸引着数百万人的关注：周五晚上独自待在家中。

38岁的首尔上班族金裕礼（音译）在Instagram上记录着她的独处时光。她的账号“kimuyeah”里满是她独自一人享受的日常活动，从下班后看动画、阅读到练习瑜伽，应有尽有。她还与粉丝分享如何舒适地度过独处时光的小贴士。

她并非一直都乐于公开展示这些内容。

由于没有配偶、伴侣或孩子，金逐渐发现自己独处的时间越来越多。最终，她不再试图用精心策划的社交媒体帖子来掩盖这种现实。

“我以前认为我应该只在社交媒体上发布特别美好的瞬间，”金在10月6日与《韩国日报》的交流中说道。“但随着我独处的时间越来越多，我逐渐意识到，这就是我的日常生活。”

她说，她很惊讶描绘她独处日常生活的素材竟然引起了这么多人的共鸣。

“独处的人会向彼此展示他们的日常生活，我们从中获得慰藉，”她说。“我认为，当我们感到孤独时，承认这种孤独感很重要，但不要把独处的时间本身视为失败或缺陷。”

从完美无瑕的生活到“#没有朋友”

在 Instagram 搜索结果中，使用话题标签“#Nofriends”的帖子会出现。截图来自 Instagram

金·卡戴珊是社交媒体上正在发生的更广泛转变的一部分，在这种转变中，孤独和寂寞越来越多地与对财富、人际关系和社会成功的渴望展示并存，有时甚至取代了这些展示。

这种趋势甚至催生了“孤独网红”和“独处网红”等词汇。

一些创作者不仅将自己定义为独居人士，还公开使用“#Nofriends”、“#Alone”和“#Loneliness”等标签，发布没有朋友可以一起消磨时间的帖子。

《Vogue》杂志在7月份曾这样描述这种现象：孤独网红正在席卷社交媒体。传统的网红们围绕着异国旅行、奢华服饰、完美住宅、美满人际关系和庞大的朋友圈来打造令人向往的形象，而这些新兴的网红们则围绕着他们所缺乏的东西，构建出引人入胜的生活愿景。

看似平凡的内容也能吸引非凡的观众。

居住在加拿大的 20 多岁女子拉娜·伊萨 (Lana Issa) 发布了一段视频，视频中她下班后独自一人在周五晚上边吃冷冻披萨边看电视，这段视频获得了超过 800 万次的观看量。

伊萨将这描述为一个独居、没有孩子也没有朋友的单身女性在周五晚上会做的事情。原本平静的夜晚却引发了如此巨大的反响，这表明许多观众在她的经历中看到了自己生活的影子。

英国清洁工莎拉·简·霍德利（Sarah Jane Hoadley）是一位40多岁的单身女性，她通过分享自己平凡的生活，也吸引了一批粉丝。

一段她下班后独自打扫和照料家务的视频播放量超过1000万次。另一段她分享自己鼓起勇气参加线下社交活动的视频也获得了800万次观看。

霍德利拥有约 36 万粉丝。

霍德利在8月接受BBC采访时表示，她成为网红纯属偶然，并补充说她从未想过会拥有这么多粉丝。随着单人家庭在社会中所占比例的不断增长，此类内容的兴起也与此相关，韩国也不例外。

独居的人越来越多，也越来越感到孤独。

根据韩国统计厅去年12月发布的《2025年单人家庭统计》报告，到2024年，单人家庭占韩国所有家庭的36.1%，高于2015年的27.2%，增长了8.9个百分点。

但数据也表明独居生活也有不太舒适的一面。

去年的一项调查显示，48.9%的单身人士表示他们经常或有时感到孤独，而总人口的这一比例为38.2%。

散文《如果我擅长独居，我能做什么？》的作者申亚罗米表示，社交媒体上单身生活方式的日益普及是人口结构和社会变化的自然结果。

申在周三接受《韩国日报》邮件采访时表示：“社交媒体内容最终似乎反映了人们的实际生活方式。过去几年，单身家庭数量不断增加，越来越多的人不再认为婚姻是必需品，人们的实际生活也发生了很大变化。”

数字团结还是更深的孤立？

作者申亚罗米（Shin Aromi）撰写了散文《如果我擅长独居，我能做什么？》，她在Instagram上分享了一些关于“如何独居而不感到孤独”的技巧。图片来自Instagram账号@sinaromii

孤独网红现象或许能提供社交媒体以前不为人知的东西：它能让人确信，平凡的、孤独的生活并不一定代表个人的失败。

专家表示，此类内容可以创造一种“数字团结”，在情感上将那些在现实生活中感到孤独或孤立的人们联系起来。

“在单人家庭占所有家庭三分之一以上的今天，我相信通过社交媒体的团结可以帮助独居人士克服孤独，”檀国大学心理学教授林明浩说道。

林说：“过去，人们只在社交媒体上分享生活中成功的一面，加剧了社会攀比。相比之下，通过社交媒体公开表达孤独感，也可以看作是社交媒体自身功能的转变。”

但享受独处也存在潜在风险。

自愿独处——选择专注于自身而非出于义务维持不必要的人际关系——可以带来积极的影响。然而，专家提醒，长期与世隔绝可能会使独处演变为社会孤立。

“如果长期与人际关系疏离，人们会逐渐习惯这种状态，最终可能发现建立人际关系变得困难，”首尔大学心理学荣誉教授郭锦柱说。“因此，有必要在自愿独处和维持人际关系之间找到适当的平衡。”

本文来自《韩国日报》（《韩国时报》的姊妹报），由人工智能生成系统翻译，并由《韩国时报》编辑。