Social distancing and spending increasing time alone have become our new normal, but it doesn’t mean we need to become isolated.

Connection is one of the most basic human needs, in fact a lack of human connection can be more harmful to your health than obesity, smoking and high blood pressure (House et al, 1988). Soclal isolation isn’t just bad for our physical health, it can also be extremely damaging to our mental health.

Connection is one of the ways that we cope with stress. You know the phrase ‘a problem shared is a problem halved’? The act of speaking to someone about what’s bothering us is a great example of the power of connection, like wise the act of touch can have a very real impact on how we feel, just think about how you feel after a hug! We are social creatures who operate best in groups, we crave and rely on interaction with other people!

We’re in a period of unprecedented uncertainty and this is - totally understandably - a huge source of stress for so many people. However, the recent crisis also means the world is in lockdown, we’re being encouraged to ‘social distance’ and ‘self-isolate’, we can’t meet in the places we normally would and people are spending more and more time alone. It’s a recipe for mental health disaster. According to doctor and researcher Dhruv Khullar from Weill Cornell Medicine (cited in Gabbatt, 2020) isolation can increase anxiety or depression ‘within days’ because it creates ‘huge void in the way we go about being humans…something that has been kind of hard-wired into who we are as beings’. That’s a scary prospect, but with a social duty to reduce in-person social contact to reduce transmission (see the UK Government guidance here) how can we mitigate the risk to our mental health while still protecting our (and other people’s) physical health?

Technology!

Technology isn’t a perfect solution, but in these weird times it is an amazing tool that we can use to maintain (and even build some new!) social connection. There are so many ways we can connect using technology, ranging from having a nice long chat on the phone to ideas that are a little more creative and offer us new ways to explore our connection with our friends and family. Personally I love having the opportunity connect with the people I love in new ways and I thought I’d share some of the creative things I’m getting involved in;

Community Whatsapp Groups

I live in a big new build block in Central London that’s full of transient young professionals who are busy, rarely home and generally find their connections in places other than where they live. However, things are changing! We’ve set up a community Whatsapp group which anyone can message if they need help and now people are even brainstorming virtual community events like concerts. It’s so lovely and unexpected to (finally!) connect with the people nearest me.

I don’t just have one Whatsapp group either. My friends and I have a group where we share information, ideas and daily pictures of pets and children simply to inspire and entertain each other. It’s been a group we’ve had in place for awhile, but recent developments means it’s really kicked in and is thriving!

Workout or Co-Work Virtually

After all this is over I am convinced Zoom will become as much a part of our every day lives as tools like Whatsapp! What’s so great about Zoom is that it’s true conferencing and you can see everyone on the call, which means you can make eye contact and put a name to a face in a way you can’t on Facebook live or IGTV which are primarily broadcast channels. People are using zoom for everything from yoga classes to casual catch ups to creating a bit of companionship while they work and I am totally here for it.

Digital Book or Film Club

Connection is built on shared experiences and there’s no reason for this to stop just because we can’t physically be together. My friends and I are taking the opportunity to do a bit more reading now we’ve got some time on our hands and we’ll be discussing what we read over wine but using Zoom instead of chatting in person. I’m actually really excited because this is something we never normally have time to do and it’ll be a really lovely way to connect with some of the people I love the most! If books aren’t your thing you can host a viewing party on Netflix which means you and your friends can all watch the same movie at the same time, just in different locations!

Create shared playlists

Shared playlists not only connect people because they’re listening to the same music, but also because they’re sharing new things with one another. Get together with friends and family and ask each person to add a few tracks to the playlist, you never know what new music you might discover, or what that music might tell you about people you thought you knew.

Technology is never going to take the place of face to face contact. We’ve spent hundreds of years honing our interactions through our body language, touch and the tone that we use, technology doesn’t always pick up on this. However right now it is better than nothing and in these challenging times connection is going to be one of the most important tools we have, so get creative and get social!

How are you staying connected in these challenging times? I’d love to hear your creative ideas!

references:

Gabbatt, A. (2020) “‘Social recession’: how isolation can affect physical and mental health”, in The Guardian, 18 March 2020.

House et al (1988) ‘Social Relationships and Health’ in Science, Vol. 241, Issue 4865, pp. 540-545.