When a Gen Zer studied in Milan, he met a best friend online to combat loneliness. They still maintain a friendship despite living in different continents.
Loneliness still plagues many people and Gen Zers are finding solutions online.
Nick Portello and Michele Gandolfi fostered a real-life friendship after meeting on Reddit.
Despite living in New York and Milan, the pair maintain their friendship long distance.
Nick Portello arrived at the sushi restaurant. He was nervous to meet his potential new friend, but hopeful.
Portello, then a college student studying abroad in Italy, had posted on the r/Milano subreddit a few days earlier: He was looking for friends and asked for information about the Milan neighborhood he was staying in. Michele "Mycah" Gandolfi, a local, responded. The pair started talking: moving from Reddit, to Instagram messages, to a planned restaurant meet-up.
When they met at the sushi restaurant, they talked for hours about shared interests and travel plans. They found that they're both fans of "RuPaul's Drag Race," and Gandolfi, 24, is a drag performer himself.
"The rest is history," Portello, 22, said. "We've been great friends ever since."
The 2020s have been marked by a loneliness epidemic. Society is connected through technology, but the COVID-19 pandemic caused dramatic isolation for people of all ages. Individuals and businesses are searching for solutions — tech ventures are seeking to alleviate loneliness, companies are pushing a return to in-office work, and there is rising demand for communal housing and public spaces.
Some experts have suggested that uniquely American social attitudes made loneliness especially bad in the US, and the negative health impacts of long-term isolation are serious. Lonely people are at a higher risk for anxiety, depression, and chronic illness.
For Gen Zers, online friendships have presented a cure.
The friends travel Europe together and keep in touch over social media
What started as an international social media connection has led to an important real-life friendship for Portello and Gandolfi. When Portello was in Milan, he and Gandolfi saw live music and attended free events. Gandolfi's family also helped Portello improve his Italian.
"(Gandolfi) invited me to go to some of his shows, and I got to meet a lot of different performers in the Milan drag scene, which was something that I'll always remember," Portello said. "I never in my whole life thought I would be doing anything like that as an American studying abroad."
Portello loved getting to experience Milan from a local's perspective, and Gandolfi appreciated doing new activities in his home city. That's one of the things he likes about Portello — he's always trying new things.
"It's always good to find community everywhere you go and to learn about different experiences," Gandolfi said. "It's different living as a queer person in Italy, in a big town like Milan, or in New York like Nick."
The pair also traveled together, going to Stockholm, and more recently, London — where Gandolfi remembers dancing at clubs and then buying fancy waffles for dessert.
Now, Portello is living in New York and Gandolfi still lives in Milan. They make an effort to see each other a couple of times a year on their travels and are hoping to meet again in Europe this summer.
In the meantime, the friends keep in touch. With the time difference and their busy schedules, they said they don't always have time to call. But, they regularly comment on each other's Instagram and TikToks and send each other text and audio messages.
"Nick is very active on TikTok, so I basically live his life," Gandolfi said. "He has a TikTok for everything. He goes to all the free events and I always follow his shenanigans."
Portello said his experience meeting Gandolfi has encouraged him to reach out to new people and continue building real friendships on social media. It's incredible to have friends all around the world, he said.
"There is now the possibility of being so close with someone who's so far away from you," Gandolfi said. "We are so lucky as a generation."
Are you a Gen Zer who met friends online or maintain a long-distance friendship? Are you willing to share your story? Reach out to this reporter at allisonkelly@insider.com.
Read the original article on Business Insider