The Social Isolation of Remote Work

By Frank Filocomo

Working from home is certainly convenient, but it can also be socially isolating.

I'm a remote worker. 

My commute is from my bed to my desk, which is pretty nice. 

I spend a lot of quality time with my 19-year-old cat, Vinny, too. He's a regular on my organization's weekly Zoom staff calls. 

At my last job, I took the train from South Brooklyn to our office in Midtown Manhattan: a commute of about an hour and change. 

There's no doubt that I'm grateful for my current situation - very grateful, indeed - but I'd be lying if I said there were no downsides. 

By virtue of working remotely, I am largely cut off from social connections from the hours of 9-5. 

Sure, there are exceptions to this, particularly thanks to Zoom, but it's mostly just me, myself, and I... and Vinny the Cat, of course.

In an article for NPR, Rhitu Chatterjee reports on a new study in Science that documents the drawbacks of remote work, particularly as it concerns lack of social connectedness. 

From the editor's summary:

After the pandemic, workers in remote-capable jobs spent more time working alone and avoided social activities with their friends, remaining more isolated both during and after work. This pattern was most pronounced among remote workers living alone: They spent entire days without human contact and their mental distress, use of mental healthcare, and antidepressants increased acutely.

The study's authors, Chatterjee writes, "found that workers in remotable jobs had experienced a 58% rise in hours spent alone compared to people in non-remotable jobs. These workers also saw a 72% rise in chances of spending their whole day with no human contact."

Humans are not built for this...

In Reclaiming Conversation, a book that I have included in Frank's Bookshelf: Recommended Reading for the Communitarian Mind, Sherry Turkle writes about the impromptu meetings and face-to-face conversations that used to be part and parcel of in-person office work. 

From the book:

Audrey Lister, a partner at Alan Johnson Miller and Associates, has worked at this large Chicago law firm for more than twenty years. She joined the firm straight out of law school. Lister talks about her early days at AJM, when she and her colleague Sam Berger were just starting out together. The two young associates would knock on each other's office doors and visit all the time. Lister says that this kind of close relationship made 'work feel like family,' 

When we work remotely, however, we miss out on these surprise office visits and workplace camaraderie.  

This begs the question: Do we all need to return to the office in order to engage in social interaction? 

My answer to that is a simple no. 

Remote work is the way of the future, whether we like it or not. 

Many have remarked that remote workers are more productive than in-office workers, and offices themselves are significant expenditures. 

So, while I commend employers who are setting the clock back and mandating in-person work, remote work isn't going anywhere. 

Thus, it is up to us work-from-home employees to introduce social connections into our day-to-day routines. 

That means: go to the neighborhood diner for your lunch break and make an attempt to familiarize yourself with the waitstaff; schedule touchpoints with your colleagues over Zoom, or if possible, in person; and, perhaps most importantly, go out after work. 

That latter point is imperative.

Work needn't be your whole life. As I always say, look to see what your community has to offer. 

Whether it be a darts or pool league, book club, open mic, or whatever, remote workers must make socialization a priority.