One simple conversation could change someone’s week, says North East founder behind new social movement.
As Loneliness Awareness Week gets underway, a North East-founded organisation is launching a national challenge encouraging people across the UK to do something remarkably simple – have a conversation with someone they don’t already know.
The ReSocial Connection Challenge is asking people to step away from their screens, break out of their social bubbles and make one genuine, face-to-face connection with another person between 15 and 21 June.
The campaign has been created by Hartlepool entrepreneur Jon Whitfield, founder of ReSocial, a new social connection platform designed to help tackle loneliness through real-world interaction rather than online engagement.
Their challenge comes at a time when loneliness is increasingly being recognised as one of the UK’s most pressing social issues.
Research from the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Tackling Loneliness suggests one in three adults regularly experiences loneliness, while the World Health Organization has linked chronic loneliness to serious health risks comparable to smoking 15 cigarettes a day.
For Jon Whitfield, the issue is about much more than individual wellbeing. He said “Loneliness in the UK is not, primarily, a personal failing. It’s a structural condition and it falls hardest on the people least able to pay their way out of it,” he said.
“The research is clear: the poorest are more than three times as likely to feel lonely as the wealthiest. ReSocial exists to be a free, real-world response to that. One conversation, in a real venue, with someone you don’t already know. That’s the Connection Challenge. It’s small, but it’s the antidote to the feed.”
Unlike traditional social media platforms, ReSocial is built around helping people meet in person through everyday venues including cafés, pubs, museums, community spaces and cultural attractions.
The Connection Challenge has deliberately been designed to be simple and accessible. Participants do not need to attend organised events, sign up for memberships or pay subscription fees. Instead, they are encouraged to have a conversation wherever the opportunity arises, whether that’s chatting to a neighbour, striking up a conversation in a coffee shop, talking to someone at a bus stop or introducing themselves to a new colleague.
Those taking part can register online and receive a personalised digital certificate and unique Connection Number once they have completed the challenge.
The founder hopes thousands of people across the country will take part and demonstrate that rebuilding social connection doesn’t always require grand gestures, sometimes it starts with a simple conversation.
People can take part in the ReSocial Connection Challenge by registering at ReSocial.com.
