# Transcript: Featured Session: Social Health Trends & Predictions: Connection is the New Frontier **Date:** March 12, 2026 · 10:00 PM **Session:** [Featured Session: Social Health Trends & Predictions: Connection is the New Frontier](/sessions/2026-03-12/pp1150198-featured-session-social-health-trends-predictions-connection-is-the-new-frontier) ## Summary Kasley Killam presents the case for social health as the missing third pillar of overall well-being alongside physical and mental health. She shares data showing that while loneliness affects millions globally, social health is rapidly moving from a niche concept to mainstream recognition, with the WHO declaring it a missing pillar and industry forecasters predicting a trillion-dollar connection economy. The session covers trends across education, workplaces, technology, AI companions, and grassroots community initiatives, calling on attendees to help lead this emerging movement. ## Topics `social health` · `loneliness` · `human connection` · `community building` · `workplace wellness` · `AI companions` · `social prescribing` · `youth mental health` ## Key Takeaways 1. Social health — the dimension of well-being that comes from connection — is the missing third pillar alongside physical and mental health, and the WHO officially recognized it as such in 2025. 2. Google searches for 'how to make friends,' 'social clubs,' and 'community events' have hit all-time highs, signaling massive unmet demand for human connection. 3. Teaching social health skills should be mandated in schools just as physical education is, as early intervention can reshape outcomes for future generations. 4. The most effective social health solutions are often grassroots and hyper-local — community connectors, neighborhood programs, and inspired individuals — not big tech platforms. 5. AI companions are already forming meaningful relationships with 49% of Gen Z, creating an urgent need for founders and investors to ensure these tools genuinely support rather than substitute human connection. ## Full Transcript Social health is the dimension of your overall health and well-being that comes from connection. If you think about physical health as about our bodies, and mental health as about our minds, social health is about relationships. The metaphor I've often used over the years is to think about your overall health and well-being as a temple. This social health pillar is absolutely essential. It's built up from human connection. These three pillars — physical, mental, and social — they're interconnected. If one is weak, the whole structure could collapse, but strengthening your social health also strengthens the others. The social health pillar has just been missing from the conversation for far too long. When I first came across this term in research almost 15 years ago, I could barely find anything about it. I'd never heard of it before. What does it look like to be socially healthy? Social health includes regular interaction with a variety of people, including loved ones. It means having close, satisfying relationships with family and friends. But it doesn't mean socializing all the time. All my fellow introverts in the audience, just breathe. Quality is more important than quantity. I want to talk about trends and breakthroughs. What I'm seeing is that social health is moving from the margins to the mainstream. Last year I made some pretty bold claims. In Wired, I said 2025 would be a turning point when people worldwide finally recognize that health is not only physical and mental, but also social. My TED Talk came out last year, and I said over the next decade, social health will become ingrained in our collective consciousness. Right here on the SXSW stage, I said 10 years from now, social health will be really woven into society. I also predicted social health is today where mental health was 10 years ago, but not for much longer. So the question is — are these bold claims truly on track to come true? The first evidence is Google searches. Google searches for social health around the world reached an all-time high just recently. Another example: this graph shows how often social health has appeared in millions of digitized books over time. There's a bit of a lag on this data, but the trend continues to build. We also see growing scholarly works and academic interest, and analysis of research trends and social media data showing rising online conversations about social health. I saved the best for last. Remember this idea that social health is the missing pillar? In June last year, my colleagues at the World Health Organization published a landmark report declaring social health the missing pillar. This is a major global milestone because it shows that social health is being placed alongside physical and mental health. Social health was also declared one of the top political trends shaping industries and culture in 2026. The Future 100 report, an annual forecast based on a survey of over 15,000 people and interviews with over 60 experts across sectors, said, and I quote, "The next trillion-dollar wellness economy is built on connection." They also said the question isn't whether social health will reshape industries — it's who will be leading the charge. We're shifting the language from loneliness as an epidemic toward the power of connection. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. We still have a long way to go. Most people still have not heard of social health. If you look for social health on Wikipedia, there's no page. This is still early, but that's actually really exciting. The law of diffusion of innovation shows how new ideas spread through a population over time — innovators champion it first, then early adopters, and then there's a tipping point where there's enough buzz and critical mass and social proof for mainstream adoption. What does the data actually tell us about our social health? Here in the US, the latest data shows that 16% of Americans feel isolated or lonely all or most of the time. We also see that 67% of US adults never participate in clubs and organizations. But there's good news too — one in two adults say they hardly ever feel lonely, 72% of Americans feel a sense of belonging in their community, and 62% feel satisfied with their relationships with family, friends, and neighbors. Globally, one in six people report loneliness according to the World Health Organization. What really matters is how severe and chronic it is — 5 to 14% experience it persistently, which represents millions of people. But there's also good news: 90% of people say they have someone they can count on, and eight out of 10 is the average satisfaction people feel with their personal relationships on a scale of zero to ten. Over the last 20 years in the US, the amount of time people spend attending or hosting social events has declined 50% on average. Worldwide, the percent of people who saw family and friends in person on a daily basis has declined as well. The percentage of people who grew up having daily meals with their families started at 84% for the silent generation and dropped to just 38% for Gen Z. We're socializing less, but we want to socialize more. Fresh data from February this year shows Google searches just reached all-time highs for how to make friends, where to make friends, friend apps, social clubs, and community events. People are hungry for connection, and their social health pillars are not as strong as they could be. This brings me to needs and opportunities. In 2025 I traveled to seven countries with clients and partners across industries having conversations about social health. The first major opportunity is youth and education. Youth are the loneliest generation — I see this over and over in the data. We need to mandate teaching social health skills in schools. We already mandate PE class. Why are we not mandating connection class? If we're teaching kids to strengthen their physical bodies, why would we not teach them to strengthen their social muscles as well? I think this is the number one way we can completely change the course of social health for future generations. The second opportunity is the workplace. We spend oftentimes more time with our coworkers than we do with our friends. Whether that time is connected or lonely is going to have an outsized impact. There are some workplace programs to improve social health, but not nearly enough. I believe every single team — whether remote, hybrid, or in-person — should have a social health strategy. The third opportunity is technology and online spaces. I'm seeing a huge influx of investing, startups, apps, and new tech platforms to help people connect. Meanwhile we're in the midst of this reckoning with social media — Australia has banned it for people under 16, other countries are following. And along comes AI. AI companions are here. 49% of Gen Z has already formed a meaningful relationship with AI. 37% of Gen Z can see themselves falling in love with an AI companion. Whether it's AI, social media, or new tech platforms, founders and investors need to be intentional about how these tools support our social health. The fourth opportunity is where we live — our communities and neighborhoods. Some of the best solutions are not tech platforms. They're grassroots, hyper-local, nonprofits and community-based organizations and inspired individuals who see an opportunity to connect people locally. The Super Neighbors in Paris, the Community Connectors in San Francisco — I could list hundreds of examples of local initiatives to improve social health. In-person connection matters enormously. Gen Z declared 2026 the year of analog. The research is clear that in-person human connection has unique benefits — there's nothing better than what we're doing here at SXSW. In recent decades we've seen a booming industry emerge around mental health. Social health is in the same position that mental health was 20 years ago, and the industry around it is just starting to form. This should be exciting, but it also makes me nervous about potential risks. We're seeing the early architecture of a new market category that's going to influence hospitality, workplace strategy, and much more. As social health goes from niche to mainstream, we need to ensure that this movement is grounded in evidence. Is social health just a sub-genre of mental health? No. Physical health is about our bodies, mental health is about our minds — the impact of relationships on our health and well-being is so significant that social health deserves its own pillar. On social prescribing — there's increasingly work being done to prescribe connection in the medical context. We're going to see more of thinking about social health like a vital sign in the years to come. But it's very subjective — you can't look at someone and know how socially healthy they are. Someone could be the life of the party yet feel deeply disconnected. Or someone could have just a few core relationships and be thriving. A non-obvious tip to exercise the social muscle: do an act of kindness or volunteer. It seems counterintuitive, but giving to others is one of the most powerful ways to strengthen your own sense of connection. --- *Source: stt · Language: en · Model: anthropic/claude-opus-4-6* [← Back to session](/sessions/2026-03-12/pp1150198-featured-session-social-health-trends-predictions-connection-is-the-new-frontier)