SXSW London: How Hinge Helps Gen Z Overcome Loneliness — One Hour at a Time

From the classroom to the corporate world, Gen Z is breaking the mold — setting trends, shaping culture, and pushing us all to think about the world in a new way.

But coming of age today comes at a great cost: Gen Z is also the loneliest generation on record. Compared to two decades ago, young adults now spend 1,000 fewer hours in person with others. And it’s not just because of screens and social media.

Studies show that there are fewer affordable “third spaces” — spots outside of home, school, and work — for young people to come together. Add in the pandemic’s impact on developing in-person social skills, and it’s clear that hanging out in person feels harder.

At Hinge, we recognize that loneliness this deep and widespread doesn’t come with simple solutions. But as our President and Chief Marketing Officer, Jackie Jantos (she/her) and Intrsxtn Surf founder Jessa Williams (she/her) discussed at SXSW London 2025, the right combination of creativity and community can get more young people off their screens and into the real world, together.

In case you missed it, here are some highlights:

Co-creating Solutions with Gen Z
A dating app leading the charge on getting people to connect offline might seem unexpected, but Hinge’s mission is to create a less lonely world through in-person connections. As Jackie shared, “If [Gen Z] is an audience you’re curious about, hopefully you’re also curious about how you might support them in ways beyond what you’re building to sell them.”

That means bringing Gen Z into the process, not just as participants, but as co-creators of solutions. At Hinge, we call this building “with, not for.” Rather than providing Gen Z with content that only entertains, we partner with creators, storytellers, and community leaders who know firsthand how to bring people together in the real world.

Building Connections, One More Hour at a Time
One example of Hinge’s “with, not for” approach is One More Hour, our program designed to empower people with the necessary tools, resources, and encouragement they need to spend just one more hour connecting face-to-face in the real world.

Since launching in 2024, the program has provided $2 million in support to over 100 in-person social groups in select cities across the U.S. and the U.K. It’s grassroots, Gen Z-led, and built to amplify existing efforts that are already doing the work of fostering connection.

One More Hour of Surfing
Jessa is one of those community builders. At SXSW London, she shared how she turned to surfing to combat the isolation she felt during the pandemic. But surfing as a Black woman came with its own challenges for finding belonging. That’s why she founded Intrsxtn Surf, a Los Angeles-based collective that empowers women of color to ride the waves together.

With funding from One More Hour, Jessa is expanding the collective’s reach and impact. Her goal is to help more Gen Z women of color across different areas build stronger relationships with each other. “There’s a need in more places than just LA — which we’re finally able to do, in no small part because of the support that we’ve been able to receive from One More Hour and our continuing partnership,” said Jessa.

1.5 Million More Hours of Connection
Making new friends can be intimidating. But spending one hour with others is an easy starting point for building connections over time. Every individual hour adds up to create connection and community.

Hinge worked with the Foundation for Social Connection (FSC)** to make sure One More Hour was designed to drive sustainable, real-world impact between people. In its analysis, the FSC found that One More Hour groups are creating an estimated 1.5 million hours of in-person time per year.

Those hours have led to a deeper sense of belonging, as two-thirds of social group participants report feeling more connected after joining. Additionally, social group attendance frequency is up by 182%. We know that people start to feel like a true friendship is forming after hanging out six times – so getting more people to repeatedly come back to a social group is one of the most important steps of building meaningful connections.

What Brands Can Do
Hinge knows this work can’t be done alone. As Jackie put it, “We need lots of people to get in, offer small start points, and build many green shoots.”

That’s exactly what One More Hour aims to do. And we’re excited to see others join in and help build a world that feels less lonely.

** Methodology

The Foundation for Social Connection (F4SC) supported Hinge's social impact program, One More Hour, by designing the impact evaluation framework. These estimates are grounded in a mixed-methods evaluation designed by F4SC, which included quantitative data collection and qualitative interviews with group participants. The analysis was based on self-reported data from September 2024 to January 2025, measuring average hours of connection and consistent attendance across funded groups.