Emerging Web3 metaverse platforms could solve the loneliness epidemic, a growing concern in the digital age.

Decentralized metaverse platforms like Decentraland and the Sandbox could create more genuine online connections, according to Bay Backner, Head producer at Decentraland and assistant university professor.

Backner told Cointelegraph during an exclusive interview during the European Blockchain Convention in Barcelona:

“If we're talking about Maslow's hierarchy of needs, we've got self-actualization and connection. For a virtual world that can do that, that's extremely compelling. It's why people get so passionate about those worlds and about the connections they make in it.”

Decentraland’s Bay Backner and Cointelegraph’s Zoltan Vardai

Despite the growing number of Web2-specific social media platforms, loneliness is a growing issue around the world. In the US, 30% of people aged 18 to 34 claim to feel lonely daily, according to the American Psychiatric Association’s Healthy Minds Monthly poll , published in Sept. 2024.

On average, the US population spends approximately 42% of their waking hours looking at screens, according to a 2018 Cooper Vision survey .

Decentralized metaverses could forge tighter online communities, compared to traditional social platforms, thanks to the community-oriented ethos of blockchain and Web3.

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Gaming and social platforms need a decentralized alternative

Global reliance on online virtual spaces and gaming environments will likely continue to increase.

This makes the development of decentralized, community-owned alternatives even more important, according to Backner:

“I would rather it's not Fortnite. I would rather it's not a centralized, monolithic platform that is going to play into this. If we're going to call it techno feudalism, this direction that capitalism is going right now, if we want to have it in that kind of debate, can we at least try and work out what the alternatives are going to look like?”

Decentraland’s Mana ( MANA ) token is the fourth-largest metaverse token, with a market capitalization of over $613 million, according to CoinGecko data .

Top metaverse cryptocurrencies. Source: CoinGecko

Social media usage grew from a daily average of 90 minutes in 2012 to 143 minutes in 2024, according to Statista .

Daily time spent on social networking by internet users worldwide from 2012 to 2024 (minutes). Source: Statista

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Web3 gaming adoption: Some games still lack a “solid foundation”

Despite the promise of paying users revenue for their time spent playing, Web3 or play-to-earn games are lacking mainstream adoption.

Part of the issue is a lack of gameplay-focused projects that lack a solid foundation, explained Backner:

“We haven't been very good at as an industry of communicating this at all. Um, quite rightly, there's been a lot of hype around projects that aren't built on solid foundations that don't offer solid, um, returns to the game to, to to gamers that have grown up with games.”

The Web3 gaming industry also needs to improve its communication, especially related to the benefits of blockchain and digital assets within gaming environments, added Backner.

Top metaverses by unique active wallets, 30-days. Source: DappRadar

Pixels is currently categorized as the largest metaverse platform, with over 1.37 million monthly unique active wallets (UAWs), according to DappRadar data .

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