Lonely together

While these days most people interact with others on social media through their gadgets, there are those who still prefer the old-fashioned way of connecting with strangers.

In the Brighton neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, USA, resident Jean Powers put up on a street fence a white mailbox marked with the words, “thoughts, opinions, poetry, secrets and lies.”

Like-minded people, those willing to share their thoughts with strangers, slide notes into the box. Powers then collects the messages and reads them at home where she lives alone.

“I get to look into the hearts and souls of strangers,” according to Powers, CBS News reported.

In Seoul, South Korea, Hee-kyung, 29, regularly visits a nearby “convenience store.”

Aptly named “Warm-hearted Convenience Store,” the place offers a warm, cafe-like atmosphere and “movie days to encourage low-level bonding” among its customers who are treated more like visitors, BBC quoted Seoul’s Loneliness Countermeasure Division (LCD) manager Kim Se-heon as saying.

Hee-Kyung visits every day to grab the free instant ramen noodles offered and spend hours chatting with other visitors and social workers.

The store in the Dongdaemun district is one of four opened in March by the LCD to address the country’s growing number of young people who are socially isolating themselves and senior citizens who are dying alone at home.

Describing each visit to the place, Hee-Kyung, who is estranged from her family and has a gadget and online friends for her only companions, told BBC it’s “another escape from feeling lonely.”