Connected but alone: How young Singaporeans are rebuilding friendships in the digital age
Lianhe Zaobao, 线上好友成群线下知己难寻 Z世代如何走出孤独暴风眼
(Summarised translation)
Despite growing up in an era of unprecedented digital connectivity, many young people are experiencing increasing loneliness. Recent surveys by the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) found that around one in 10 Singaporeans have no close friends, while more than half of young adults aged 21 to 34 find it easier to communicate online than face-to-face. The World Health Organization has similarly identified loneliness as an urgent public health concern, particularly among young people.
One such initiative is Tangled, a friendship platform co-founded by Yang Si Jun, a 25-year-old Computer Science and Design student at the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD), together with Nanyang Technological University student Deng Jinglin.
The idea for Tangled emerged as the pair approached graduation and realised that years of focusing on coursework and demanding internships had left them with few people to meet outside academic and work settings. After posting on Reddit about the difficulty of making friends after graduation, they received an overwhelming response, with the post attracting more than 50,000 views. They subsequently started a Telegram community that quickly grew to nearly 500 members, organising offline activities such as coffee meet-ups, board games and running sessions. The positive response convinced them that many young people were looking for genuine face-to-face friendships.
Launched in April 2026 with S$5,000 in seed funding from SUTD, Tangled is designed to put users—not algorithms—in control of their social lives. Rather than endlessly recommending people through opaque algorithms, the platform connects users through shared interests in small groups of no more than five people, creating opportunities for deeper conversations. Users can join up to three interest groups simultaneously, while facial verification helps enhance trust and safety.
Yang, who led the platform’s technical development, said there were periods when he spent up to 13 hours a day coding because he believed strongly in the project. The team also developed AI-powered features, including social personality profiles and a scheduling assistant that detects when users are planning to meet, recommends nearby venues and helps arrange the gathering.