It’s Never Been This Easy to Isolate

Social Isolation is known to have many adverse mental, physical, and emotional effects

The 18th-century French poet Joseph Roux once said that “Solitude vivifies. Isolation kills.”

There has been much debate about the distinction between the states of solitude vs isolation  – if you can even consider them states of being, rather than places, conditions, mindsets, or afflictions. As supported by Roux’s quote, solitude doesn’t necessarily bear the negative connotations that isolation does. While solitude is self-reflective, isolation is self-degrading. While solitude is tranquil, isolation is boring. While solitude is peaceful, isolation is violent. While solitude is self-imposed, isolation is involuntary.

Humans have always been actors in group contexts; from the first nomadic hunters to large corporations and governments today, we seem to naturally congregate to work toward common objectives. As a result of this being a necessity in early humans, those with more social behaviors were favored by natural selection, causing humans to be highly social, cooperative, and intelligent primates. Because of these psychoevolutionary effects of isolation, a lack of belonging in a group has proven detrimental to the human psyche and the human body. It is for this reason that the concept of “solitude” as a productive state of being came to be – a self-imposed, positive isolation away from others, typically to escape the noise or hustle and bustle of humanity, or to ponder and reflect on one’s own place in such a puzzle.

Into the 21^st century, the lines between solitude and isolation are being heavily blurred. The widespread proliferation of digital technology and social media, as well as the effects of late-stage capitalism being felt on an individual bases are all throwing a wrench in the idea of a rigid dichotomy between solitude and isolation. It is not unfeasible to think that, in today’s society, seeking ‘solitude’ could cause one to isolate oneself, or that isolation from preferred and widespread means of socialization, like social media, could have some positive effects.

Since our collective conception of what socialization means or how we define the public forum are consistently being warped by the means by which humans predominantly interact with one another, we must challenge our preconceived notions about isolation and solitude. Social norms that govern how we interact with one another have been and are consistently changing, so who’s to say this fluidity does not affect what we think of as a righteous, virtuous solitude, versus a lonely, depressing isolation?

One factor completely out of our control, however, was the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic has been and still is completely reshaping the ways we as humans operate with each other; decreased socialization, lower social trust, and loneliness are becoming easier and normalized. This occurs among businesses and organizations, institutions and governments, and, most importantly, the internet and digital realm. Other major contributors to this novel pandemic of isolation and loneliness include the loss of “third places” and the AI boom - trends whose effects were heavily exacerbated by the pandemic.

A novel manifestation, as well as a cause, of this behavior among Americans today is the rise in popularity of the gig economy with regard to services like DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Instacart. The ease of food ordering makes it possible for one to have a meal delivered directly to their door without interacting with anyone at all, no interactions with grocery store employees, servers, or food service workers. Such sectors, due to their low barrier to entry and lack of credentials required to work, attract many young people and immigrants as employees. 

This, in combination with these services’ high prices, has spawned the treatlerite stereotype of wealthy individuals who indulge in the luxuries of modern technology while harboring bias against said labor that allows for the luxuries to fall into their hands, lowering social cohesion and exacerbating preexisting biases. The popularity of online food-ordering apps and the proliferation of these negative, anti-social attitudes all make it so much easier to go about tasks that once required human interactions, like preparing and eating a meal, without any human interaction at all.

Remote work can make workers feel disconnected and isolated, and can impose serious mental health issues

Remote working and virtual learning are also partially to blame for this degradation of human interaction and increasing isolation among us. Although formed as a necessity out of the COVID-19 pandemic, research shows that said remote working and virtual learning increase loneliness, adding stress and significantly impairing educational and employment performance. Public health officials are denoting this widespread impact on society as an epidemic itself. Highly social workplaces, due to the pandemic, became isolated and vapid, as did third places.

Urban sociologist Ray Oldenburg defines the “Third Place” as the “informal public gathering place that serves the community.” Spaces like coffeeshops, plazas, and bars offer public spaces in which individuals can escape the structure and stress of their home and work (first and second places) and enjoy a relaxed, casual social environment, free of entry, in which socialization in a variety of different ways is promoted but not forced. Even prior to the pandemic, third places were on the decline. Americans saw more and more closures of local retailers and restaurants due to a variety of factors - delayed effects of the Great Recession, rising rents and wage stagnation, and upticks in online shopping and community engagement. Additionally, increasing surveillance and the proliferation of public accommodations with discriminatory policies owed to their models as fast-paced, corporate stores and not community centers dealt a large blow to the idea of communal, civic-oriented third places.

This decline is likely more nuanced; however, the American culture so concerned with productivity and status, has slowly begun to creep into the policies of third place and the built environment itself. Loitering laws in parks or customer-only coffeeshops punish individuals for merely relaxing in public places or accommodations. Furthermore, the transition from dense, walkable, and transit-heavy cities to car-dominated suburbia in this country over the past 75 years has allowed for widespread private vehicle usage and contributed to less socialization all around. 

More concerning trends include stories of individuals relying on artificial intelligence models as a substitute for human companionship – whether said companionship replicates a tangible therapist, best friend, partner, or deceased relative. Websites like nomi.ai that advertises itself as a platform that can allow one to “build a meaningful friendship, develop a passionate relationship, or learn from an insightful mentor” – all with a large language model. Despite what these models market themselves as, genuine and nuanced human companionship cannot be replaced by these AI models, which provide surface-level emotional support and companionship to the lonely. This may lead to widespread social disintegration, as many can become disconnected from others in favor of AI models - watch Her.

What can we make of this? Surgeon General Dr. Vivek H. Murthy in a 2023 report stated that loneliness can lead to a “greater risk of cardiovascular disease, dementia, stroke, depression, anxiety, and premature death” and that “the harmful consequences of a society that lacks social connection can be felt in our schools, workplaces, and civic organizations, where performance, productivity, and engagement are diminished.” Among the numerous negative physical, mental, and emotional detriments of loneliness and a lack of social cohesion, it is certainly detrimental to the very social and civic fabric of this country.

As a result of the proliferation of novel means of engaging with technology, fluid social norms, alienating effects of late-stage capitalism, and externally imposed constraints on our ability to socialize with one another, we are truly becoming lonelier and more isolated from one another in this contemporary period. If Joseph Roux were alive today and writing on Substack instead of paper and goose quill, he certainly wouldn’t be able to make this distinction between solitude and isolation, either.