“Loneliness influencers” are all the rage, but everyone is wrong about them
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“Loneliness influencers” are all the rage, but everyone is wrong about them
Amy Eileen Hamm<br>Jul 25, 2026
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Being lonely is so hot right now.<br>In the past couple of months, and largely due to a young Toronto woman whose only friend in the world is her mother, the concept of “loneliness influencers” has entered our online lexicon. Several publications have run pop-culture essays on this “new” type of online influencer, including The Atlantic, with their piece titled “The Strange Appeal of the Solitude Influencer,” which ends with a musing on striking a balance between solitude and connection.
The Atlantic’s piece on “solitude influencers.”<br>I think these essays all miss the mark.<br>What is a loneliness (or solitude) influencer? They are persons with few to no friends who film their mundane lives—cooking dinner, choosing pajamas before bed, going for a solo drive—and post the videos for an audience that they rarely interact with, at least directly. (Indirectly, they’re surely adjusting their content to the desires of their viewers.) These lonely persons typically remind us in each video about what they don’t have (friends, partners) as they go about their daily routines. However, they’re not plaintive and they’re not seeking support or tactile relationships—the point is that they either enjoy, or are perfectly accepting of, being alone.<br>And we, the public, apparently love to watch them being alone. The aforementioned Toronto woman, Lana Isa, is quickly approaching 250,000 Instagram followers, for instance.<br>Some of the think pieces on Isa et al. admit the obvious: by building an audience, loneliness influencers are engaging in social behaviour despite claiming to lead antisocial lives. But they dismiss this as artefact—some kind of oopsie doopsie paradox. Several authors describe the common appeal of these influencers: if your life is busy and chaotic, it feels rather meditative to observe the quiet, simple life of a lonely person (as long as their content is beautiful and calm—someone with a hoarding problem, for example, would not succeed in this niche market). A piece in The Irish Times argues that glamourizing social isolation might be unhealthy for us, disconnected as we are, already, by the trappings of our increasingly online, modern lives. That sounds a bit alarmist, to me—I think loneliness content is a symptom, rather than a cause, of widespread social isolation.
I began following Isa’s account when she had far fewer followers. (She has gained nearly 100,000 since being featured in The Atlantic.) I can’t put my finger on exactly what I find most appealing about her content. Some of her videos give me nostalgia for the period of time, before I had kids, when I lived alone while studying journalism in university. I’m introverted by nature and enjoy solitude in doses larger than some people might—but I seldom get to experience that these days. What’s more likely, however, is that I follow Isa because I have an obsession with strange corners of the internet, trendy or otherwise.<br>So, why do I think that these mainstream essays about loneliness influencers have gotten it all wrong?<br>I think everyone’s thinking too deeply about the topic: if we are being honest, loneliness influencers can be described as both boring and self-obsessed. (Nor can I be convinced that one truly enjoys their solitude if they broadcast it for the whole world.) Of all the things one could offer to the world, they’ve come up with hoping that someone will take delight in seeing the plate of frozen chicken nuggets they baked themselves for dinner. (Literally.)<br>Loneliness influencers are like asexual OnlyFans models—their motivations are suspect, to say the least. Loneliness influencers are also like an Andy Warhol Campbell’s Soup painting. Are we actually witnessing some brilliant social commentary art form, here—or is it just a picture of some damn soup?<br>Loneliness influencers are no different than any other type of influencer, at the end of the day. They want attention and have found a very low-effort method of obtaining it. I think I’m going to unfollow them—because what the hell am I really spending my precious time on, here?
Thank you for reading my Substack. My articles are always free, but I do greatly appreciate those who support my work with paid subscriptions. - Amy
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Viviane Morrigan<br>11h
Liked by Amy Eileen Hamm
"Loneliness influencer" is an oxymoronic identity of a person who claims to be unhappy because they are not with other people yet who aims to interact with other people in order to influence them to be to be unhappy because they are not with other people. My head is spinning! Help!
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MexiMac
6h
Liked by Amy Eileen Hamm
I live alone. My wife of many years died and engaging with others is an effort that I...