Teenager launches online 'pen pal' drive to combat Covid-19 lockdown loneliness

It is an old fashioned solution using modern technology which seeks to help teenagers locked down at home reach out to the wider world.
Alex Bergin is helping to connect teenagers around the world during lockdown.Alex Bergin is helping to connect teenagers around the world during lockdown.
Alex Bergin is helping to connect teenagers around the world during lockdown.

A Scots teenager and his friends have devised a new online pen pal system to help youngsters strike up new friendships during the coronavirus pandemic.

The International Youth Cooperative pairs up youths according to the interests and language, and it has already attracted interest from more than 1,000 people across 37 countries since it was launched a few weeks ago.

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Alex Bergin, from the village of Forgandenny in Perth and Kinross, hit upon the idea after realising first hand how the lockdown restrictions exacerbated feelings of loneliness.

Together with friends based in Italy and Canada, they set about creating their own algorithm - which works by asking people about their interests and likes using a Google form - to tether people together.

Each participant is matched with a ‘twin’ from somewhere else in the world for a week’s worth of email-based letter writing before being matched with a new ‘twin’.

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The 17-year-old, an alumnus of Strathallan School, said they worked non-stop for four days to create the programme, and have been left “overwhelmed” by the response to an initiative that started out as a mere “pet project”

He explained: “We live in an increasingly interconnected world, and we didn’t want lockdown to put a halt to this. So, when we came up with an idea that helped people to connect and make new friends, we worked tirelessly to make this project – which we felt could make a difference to people’s lives – a reality.

“The response has been incredible. We feel that is a testament to how this project can really help people – while we’re all stuck in lockdown, while we’re in quarantine – just find somebody new to talk to.

“It could ease the pressures of isolation, help with loneliness, and if nothing else, who doesn’t want to make a new friend?”

The International Youth Cooperative can be found on Instagram at @ioc_2020.

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