The person who lives alone still needs someone who notices an unusual silence.

Independence and safety are different needs, and people who manage well alone are often assumed to require neither. What is missing is not company but a witness: somebody who would register that the curtains stayed shut, that the usual message did not arrive, that a light has been on too long. That kind of noticing is what turns living alone into living alone safely.

If you live by yourself, arrange one person who would spot a gap, and tell them plainly what would count as unusual. If you know someone who does, learn their pattern. Noticing is quiet work and it does not intrude.