Althouse: "Gabi Drunyte, 21, from the Glasgow area, posted her first video, which opens 'I have no friends,' on TikTok in November."

June 8, 2026

"Gabi Drunyte, 21, from the Glasgow area, posted her first video, which opens 'I have no friends,' on TikTok in November."

"It received more than 211,000 views and 20,000 likes. 'A really large flood of people said they were in the same position … and that it was refreshing to see someone be so open because they thought they were alone,' she said. 'The biggest comment that I got was that I gave them a new lease of life, like they were really contemplating things, they felt really, really, really poorly about themselves.' Drunyte explained that after school she gave into being 'a wee bit of a recluse,' feeling that her efforts to socialise were futile. After university, she moved home and worked hybrid jobs. She posts 'day in the life' videos of her doing errands, hikes or solo trips to lochside lodges...."

From "The latest TikTok trend for Gen Z? Admitting you have no friends/Behind the perfect skin routine, delicious meal for one and spotless flat, popular 'living alone diaries' highlight a loneliness epidemic" (London Times).

20 comments:

Wince said...: Well, she's in Glasgow, where they can put a smile on your face like Rosie O'Donnell's.; 6/8/26, 11:09 AM
stlcdr said...: I'm sure the UK (Scottish) COVID 'Bubble' lochdowns had nothing to do with it.; 6/8/26, 11:10 AM
CJinPA said...: Can't access the article. DOES ANYONE MAKE REAL FRIENDS as a result of this trend?; 6/8/26, 11:18 AM
Aggie said...: Have to ponder this one for a while. Tragedy, comedy, or inspirational?; 6/8/26, 11:23 AM
RideSpaceMountain said...: I wonder how many people who say they're lonely also have "Hell Is Other People" bumper stickers. You don't get back what you don't put in the middle.; 6/8/26, 11:29 AM
Smilin' Jack said...: "Gabi Drunyte, 21, from the Glasgow area, posted her first video, which opens 'I have no friends,' on TikTok in November."

Don’t they have chatbots in Glasgow?; 6/8/26, 11:32 AM
n.n said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 6/8/26, 11:33 AM
n.n said...: A friendly farcical. Tick tock.; 6/8/26, 11:34 AM
Jaq said...: Working from home is kind of a pernicious trend, but I suppose it’s not the employer’s concern that their employees meet potential mates, have families, etc; 6/8/26, 11:37 AM
tim maguire said...: stlcdr said...I'm sure the UK (Scottish) COVID 'Bubble' lochdowns had nothing to do with it.

The lockdowns were devastating to the social development of young people and Gabi is in the worst age cohort--she was in high school for most of it.

There aren't enough jails to hold every public health policy "expert" who belongs in one.; 6/8/26, 11:39 AM
Ice Nine said...: The fact that her mode of communicating this feeling of having no friends - to a computer, online, on freakin' TikTok...ie., to the ether - probably tells you a lot about why she, and her 20,000 sympathetic new "friends," are in that situation.; 6/8/26, 11:42 AM
Aggie said...: Cue the Louis Prima......; 6/8/26, 11:44 AM
n.n said...: Volitude.; 6/8/26, 11:47 AM
bagoh20 said...: You being alone is probably bad for the rest of us too. Please try harder. I'm not friendly myself. All my friends were acquired by accident, not effort.; 6/8/26, 11:48 AM
bagoh20 said...: Having friends is hard. People don't do hard anymore.; 6/8/26, 11:51 AM
bagoh20 said...: Maybe it's the amount of impersonal interacting you can do today, but I notice that most people are less social than they used to be, even the extroverts.; 6/8/26, 11:53 AM
RCOCEAN II said...: People in the old days were more or less forced to socialize. You could read a book or watch TV by yourself - but that was about it.

Today, because of the cellphone and the internet you can "socialize" with other people without any real contact or making any real life friends.

After my wife went to bed last night, I must have wasted 30 minutes of my life looking at car chase videos. Life, but not life. Think of the millions of young people who've substituted "internet fake life" for real life. And AI will make it even worse. AI can be your new friend. Its scary.; 6/8/26, 11:58 AM
RideSpaceMountain said...: The divide is over social avoidance of "negative externalities". They're a fact of life in un-curated real life interactions and older generations, Gen X, and early millennials have more and better experience of how to deal with them. Mid-to-younger millennials and anything after they're generally un-curated-interaction avoidant.

If they don't just walk away you'll get the SSReyes.; 6/8/26, 12:39 PM
Old and slow said...: She should move to London. She couldn't afford her own flat there and she'd be forced to find flatmates. It worked for me.; 6/8/26, 12:41 PM
rehajm said...: that’s a bunch of new friends. She must be hot…; 6/8/26, 1:21 PM