You Don’t Have to Be Alone to Feel Lonely — Loneliness Awareness Week 2025

Each year, Loneliness Awareness Week rolls around with a simple but powerful message: loneliness is a normal human experience — and it deserves open conversation. While Australia officially marks the week in August, the global movement (running 9–15 June this year) gives us all an early opportunity to reflect on something we’re still not great at admitting: that more of us are feeling lonely than ever before, including those in relationships, group chats, and social crowds.

You don’t have to live alone to feel alone. That’s the bit that hits hardest.

Recent figures from the UK suggest that 1 in 4 people report feeling lonely often or always. Among Gen Z, that number climbs to nearly half. But what’s emerging in both research and real life is something harder to see and even harder to say: many people feel lonely in their closest relationships — with partners, with family, in social circles. Not because they’re unloved, but because they don’t feel understood. Because they’re not seen.

I know that feeling well. When I was at my lowest, I was surrounded by people. I had friends, workmates, the kind of social life that, from the outside, probably looked enviable. But inside, I felt invisible. I was performing connection, not experiencing it. And for a while, I filled the silence with substances, with noise, with everything except what I actually needed: purpose, movement, and real, human connection.

That’s where the idea for Get Out came from — not as a dating app alternative (though yes, it’s that too), but as a space for anyone who’s ever thought: Something’s missing, and I don’t know how to ask for more.

Loneliness: More Than a Buzzword

Experts like psychotherapist Noel McDermott describe loneliness as an early warning system — a signal that we’re out of sync with our social needs. It’s not the same as being alone. It’s the feeling of being disconnected from what you need, emotionally or communally. It’s why you can feel lonelier in a relationship than when you’re single. Why you can be surrounded by people and still feel like you’re on the outside looking in.

The kicker? Most of us don’t talk about it. Especially men. Studies show men are less likely to report feeling lonely — but they suffer the consequences of social isolation more severely, from higher rates of addiction to increased suicide risk. We don’t always recognise that "I’m fine" can mean "I’m barely holding it together."

And we don’t always realise how much these feelings are compounded by economic pressure, digital overwhelm, and the erosion of third spaces — places we used to gather that weren’t home or work. As the UK Prime Minister recently said, we’re becoming strangers to each other. And it’s costing us more than we know.

The Loneliness in Relationships

One of the more surprising takeaways from current research is how common it is to feel lonely within your own relationship. The reason? Emotional mismatch. As psychologist Dr. Holly Schiff puts it, “Loneliness is the gap between the connection you actually have and the connection you really want.”

Maybe your partner loves you, but you don’t feel seen. Maybe you’ve both fallen into routines that no longer feel nourishing. Or maybe you’ve lost yourself — your hobbies, your independence, your sense of who you are outside the relationship — and you’re left wondering why something still feels missing.

This is where Get Out is different. We don’t believe fixing loneliness is just about pairing people up or padding your calendar with group chats and brunches. We believe it starts with getting curious. With trying new things, finding purpose, and remembering what lights you up outside of your relationship — or your job, or your identity as a parent, or your role as someone’s something.

Making Moments Matter

This year’s theme for Loneliness Awareness Week in Australia is “Make Moments Matter.” It’s built on the idea that small, genuine interactions — a kind word, a shared laugh, a simple hobby — are the building blocks of real connection.

At Get Out, we’re taking that seriously.

That’s why we’re building a platform that helps people not just meet each other, but do things together. Hike. Cook. Stretch. Volunteer. Dance. Debate. Breathe. You don’t need to become a new person — you just need to remember that the real you is worth showing up for.

Volunteering, for instance, has been shown to reduce loneliness across every age group. The latest Oxfam study revealed that more than a third of Gen Z would prefer to volunteer than go to the pub or a club — not because they don’t want fun, but because they’re looking for meaning. That’s a huge shift in how we think about connection.

A Personal Note to Anyone Who Feels “Fine”

If you’ve read this far and thought, I’m not really lonely, I’m just… a bit off, this is for you.

You don’t need to wait until you’re drowning to ask for a life raft. Loneliness doesn’t always look like silence or sadness. Sometimes it looks like scrolling for hours. Or saying “I’m just tired” when you’re not. Or feeling like you’re too old to start again, or too busy to make friends, or too much for people to understand.

I used to believe all of that. And I’ve seen how dangerous it is to sit in it alone.

You deserve more. Not more likes. More life. And that starts with one small moment. One step. One brave decision to try something new — or to be honest with someone you trust.

That’s why Get Out exists. We’re not trying to fix you. We’re just here to help you remember that you’re not alone — even when you feel like it.