Alone While Connected: The Rise Of Digital Loneliness Among Pakistani Youth

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 26th Jul, 2025) They’re always online, chatting, searching, scrolling. Surrounded by notifications and connected to the world at every moment. And yet, a growing number of young people in Pakistan say they feel more alone than ever before.

This is the quiet paradox of our time, in an age built on digital connection, many are struggling with emotional disconnection. For students across Pakistan, a new kind of loneliness is taking hold, not from being cut off, but from being constantly plugged in, without feeling truly present. This is digital loneliness, a sense of isolation that grows even when surrounded by devices, data, and digital voices.

Much of this shift is tied to the rapid spread of artificial intelligence. Students now turn to AI tools like ChatGPT, study apps, and voice assistants not just for homework, but for daily guidance. These tools save time, offer instant answers, and feel efficient, but they also quietly replace human interaction. What used to be a moment to ask a classmate, a teacher, or a friend has become a task solved in silence, alone with a screen.

In cities like Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad, and Rawalpindi, where access to technology is high and life moves fast , this experience is becoming common. Urban students often rely on AI from morning to night. In contrast, youth in smaller towns and villages still spend more time with family and neighbors. Their lives remain more rooted in conversation, in presence — and less shaped by algorithms.

For many students, the impact is deeply personal.

“I use ChatGPT every day for coding and assignments,” says Muhammad Saad, a BS Computer Science student at FAST-NUCES Lahore, while talking to APP. “It helps me save time, but now I don’t talk to my classmates much. I feel more alone, even though I’m always online.”

Zainab Fatima, an FSc Pre-Medical student at Bahria College Karachi, shares a similar experience:

“I used to study in groups with my friends. Now I use YouTube and AI apps. Sometimes I really miss studying with others and just talking to them.”

Behind these quiet admissions is a pattern that health professionals are starting to see more clearly.

Dr. Ayesha Khalid, a psychologist at Services Hospital Lahore, explains:

“More young people come to us with stress, anxiety, and loneliness. They stay online all day but don’t have real emotional support. They think they are connected, but they feel very alone inside.”

Families are feeling the shift too.

“My sons are always in their rooms using phones,” says Samina Parveen, a school teacher and mother in Rawalpindi. “They talk to apps and games more than to us. We live in the same house but feel like strangers.”

Technology experts agree that the root of the problem isn’t the tools themselves, but the way they’re used.

“AI is made to help us — not to replace human relationships,” says Hassan Shah, an AI developer at the National Incubation Center, Islamabad in response to an APP query. “We must teach people how to use AI in a healthy way and not depend on it for emotional support.”

Despite being designed to connect, digital technology is isolating millions. A 2024 study by the World Health Organization estimates over 33% of adults globally report feeling lonely—up from 23% a decade ago. Social media, once hailed as a bridge, now often replaces real human interaction with curated illusions, deepening emotional distance. As screens dominate our attention, the irony grows: we’re more connected than ever, yet increasingly alone.

This growing sense of emotional distance among youth calls for something simple but often overlooked: real human connection. Parents spending time with children, classmates meeting face to face, schools creating space for conversations, not just performance. The solution lies not in turning away from technology, but in remembering what it can’t replace.

Before the rise of smartphones, Pakistani family life thrived on close-knit evening gatherings. Parents and children would sit together after dinner, sharing stories, life lessons, and memories of past generations. These moments fostered deep bonds and passed down cultural values and practical wisdom. Today, that tradition is fading, replaced by silent rooms where each member is lost in their screen, and shared family time is becoming a relic of the past.