Name: The entrepreneurs tackling loneliness during the coronavirus pandemic | CNBC International
Uploaded: 2020-05-13T19:30:25.000Z
Duration: 9 min 11 s
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We've all been a lot more isolated lately.

As many of us hunker down in our homes under some form of social restriction, the time

away from family, friends and colleagues has been tough.

But while social distancing is a challenge for many, some have turned the crisis into opportunity.

I'm speaking to some entrepreneurs who have made it their business to help tackle loneliness

In the last two months, it's kind of gone a bit insane.

Oh, it's like more than full-time now. I work on this probably 18 hours a day.

In Norway, isolation also means insulation, it's the same word.

Everyone thought of isolation as something yellow that you have in your wall, until Covid.

Even before the coronavirus outbreak, another pandemic was on the rise: Loneliness.

In the era of connectivity and social apps, loneliness is ironically pervasive,

Today, close to two-thirds of adults in the United States report feeling lonely,

The United Kingdom even appointed a minister for loneliness in 2018, after recognizing

That has spawned a whole new industry aimed at combating the problem.

One person who knows that better than most is 29-year-old Karen Dolva,

Over the past five years, the Norwegian entrepreneur has been working to tackle loneliness among children

and the elderly with a series of 'warm' technology products.

One such tool is this telepresence robot, which connects children with long-term illnesses

While this tablet is specially designed for the elderly to keep in touch with their family

The pandemic has highlighted the extent of isolation in society, says Karen.

We've definitely seen a change in the, if you call it, loneliness market.

I think when we started, we were very much alone.

Following the outbreak, demand for No Isolation's products has skyrocketed.

In the final two weeks of March alone, the company sold 1,500 of its tablets

and had to fast-track production to fulfill new orders.

Of the senior products, we thought we weren't going to produce anything more during 2020.

We thought we had a warehouse that would cover us through the year, and they were all sold in two weeks.

We had to turn around and find ways of producing more units.

That has helped more elderly people stay connected with loved ones as they shelter at home.

Since the pandemic, each tablet user receives over 8 calls per week on average,

It's quite cool to see how it's working, because people are using it a lot!

They're getting an average of 17 photos per week.

For these seniors, that's like getting postcards.

They're getting images of their grandkids; they're getting video calls from their daughters;

they're getting to be a part of the life that's happening outside their own little sphere.

Every effort to encourage social connection counts.

Studies suggest people suffering from loneliness can be more susceptible to physical health conditions

such as stroke, heart disease and early mortality.

But the psychological impacts of isolation can be major, too.

In March, the World Health Organization released guidelines for dealing with the mental health

That's where Calvin Benton, co-founder of U.K.-based Spill, comes in.

Since launching in 2018, the mental health platform has been providing workplaces with

access to online therapy sessions through the messaging tool Slack.

But with most people now working remotely and facing new anxieties, that service has

become more important than ever, says the 27-year-old entrepreneur.

In the last two months, we've had more inbound requests for Spill than we had in

That means Calvin has had to move quickly to sign up its fast-growing customer-base.

So many companies are wanting to support their employees and they're wanting to support them now.

So we've had to build a way for companies to sign up instantly.

We've had companies sign up and roll out Spill to their entire company

in less than 10 minutes, which is really, really amazing to see.

Calvin says employees have been using the platform at four-times the usual rate,

especially for quick questions or one-off sessions.

The thing that we've really seen is just the rise in the need for answers.

There's so much uncertainty around like what's going to happen in the next few weeks

and months, and I think what's been quite cool is our therapists can almost at least

predict how the emotional side of this is going to go.

That's been good news for therapists too, who have been able to supplement lost income

from face-to-face appointments with digital alternatives.

Meanwhile, Spill has rolled out public services, such as 'ask a therapist' on Instagram Stories,

and free therapy sessions for people who have been retrenched,

which Calvin says is vital for raising awareness.

It's cast a huge light on what we're doing.

We've known we've had this amazing thing that's just been like a big awareness campaign.

While isolation can take its toll physically and mentally for some people, it is the boredom

I am a product designer, entrepreneur, weird idea creator.

Danielle is the co-founder of Quarantine Chat, an app designed to connect strangers isolating

The 31-year-old and her co-founder Max Hawkins built the service on top of their existing

chat app, Dialup, in March, shortly after stay-at-home notices were implemented in the U.S.

The idea was inspired by Danielle's earlier quarantine experience after getting infected

with glandular fever, also known as mono.

I just thought 'oh, it would be cool if I could connect with someone else who has mono right now.'

So when coronavirus became a thing, I had this idea seeded in my mind from years before.

Also our app was already connecting people all over the world, so it just seemed like

the perfect tool to use to connect people who are in self-isolation.

The app is currently responsible for 2,300 hours, or more than 95 days, worth of conversation

We thought it would be like a very simple way to like people would cheer each other up,

or there'd be these moments that sort of mimic talking to a barista or talking to your neighbor.

But what happens is people are actually talking on the phone for a long time and becoming friends.

Most of that growth has been organic, through word of mouth.

Danielle, who is now working on the app full-time, is thinking about avenues for expansion.

We are building a system within the app that if you like talking to someone you can reconnect with them later.

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The entrepreneurs tackling loneliness during the coronavirus pandemic | CNBC International

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