Efi Chalikopoulou for Vox

“It never would have happened if it weren’t for the pandemic.”

Before the Covid-19 pandemic and the isolation of lockdown even reached US shores, Americans were lonely. A recently published survey showed that in 2018, loneliness, defined in part as few social interactions and a sense of lacking social support, was at an all-time high among US adults. Young people in particular, many of whom lack the intimacy of IRL interactions, reported the highest levels of loneliness.

So when cities and states across the country imposed social distancing rules to slow the spread of the coronavirus in March, the loneliness phenomenon was confronted with an unconventional challenge. Access to office spaces, gyms, bars, and other physical spaces that help facilitate social relationships was gone. But much like dating, people have searched for ways to not only virtually connect with friends