This Major Research Project investigates rising loneliness among Canadian Generation Z (Gen Z) and the rapid normalization of AI chatbots as a new form of relational technology. While loneliness is often framed as an emotional state to be managed by a person in private, this research reframes loneliness as a sense of disconnection from the self, from others, from collective life, from nature, and from purpose. This research posits that loneliness is an emergent property of modern social organization, including the erosion of third places, the commodification of connection, post-Covid-19 pandemic effects, and the increasing digital mediation of social life.

This research integrates interdisciplinary literature with primary research, including a survey of Canadian Gen Z participants and participatory workshops, along with interviews with experts in fields spanning psychology, philosophy, media literacy, and AI, to examine both the drivers and lived experiences of loneliness. Using systems thinking and foresight-informed methods, the research examines how relational needs are met, not met, or substituted by AI chatbots, and illustrates that Gen Z participants strongly reject a future in which AI companions serve as primary sources of connection. This research also offers a practical and diagnostic layer that is mostly absent from current discourse, an evaluation of when AI chatbot use may shift from tool-based interaction toward relational dependency and what safeguards may help mitigate that risk for individuals.

Research findings indicate that there is no universal “solution” to loneliness and no technological fix that can eliminate it. However, practical mitigation is possible. The project proposes that the strongest and most immediate leverage point lies at the individual level: rebuilding the capacity to identify one’s desires, unpack one’s emotions, and intentionally practice reconnection with oneself and community. Over time, these shifts can contribute to broader cultural reorientation toward care-centered models of social life.