There seems to be a pervasive concern that use of our smartphones or tablets is associated with the widely-reported increase in loneliness in the UK and many other countries. Rather than being the cause, I
There seems to be a pervasive concern that use of our smartphones or tablets is associated with the widely-reported increase in loneliness in the UK and many other countries. Rather than being the cause, I would suggest that this is a manifestation of the individualism which has created the so-called ‘epidemic’ of loneliness.
Smartphones have not stopped us from talking to each other
Individualism
In her insightful blog, Fay Bound Alberti identified the origin of our contemporary understanding of loneliness in the 19th century emerging interest in the individual. The processes of industrialisation and urbanisation led to the decline of traditional communities in which the social order had been relatively static. The result was improved prospects for economic and social advancement for individuals through education, wealth and resourceful social connections.
Modern capitalist societies which promote the most advanced notions of individualism are also among the most unequal. The UK and the US, for example, are characterised by extreme inequality. A report out this week found more than 14 million people in the UK are living in poverty, while our obsession with celebrity – the ultimate cult of individualism – continues unabated. The safety net provided by the post-war welfare state has been eroded to such an extent that our social fabric is barely able to cope with illness, disability, unemployment or homelessness, for example.
In individualistic societies, those with resourceful social connections are more likely to acquire wealth, power and status throughout their lives. As a result, those with small networks have become pathologised. Being alone has become a social problem, as the current concern with loneliness demonstrates. (Being alone is erroneously equated with loneliness, but that’s for another blog). I struggle with this in my own work, which aims to attune mental health practitioners to the social connections of the people they work with. Our individualistic health and social care systems require us to make individual responses, which does not sit easy with me. It is not within the individuals themselves where the problems lie, but in our society.
Social change
Today our social connections are rooted less in the places we live and more in the activities we undertake. Our social networks are developed more from our jobs or our individual interests than from the communities in which we live. We more often live and work in different places and our connections with those in our local communities can be quite weak (which is something the Great Get Together aims to address, for example).
The decline in institutions which bring people together in local communities – such as churches – has been associated with a decline in community or social capital. The closure of many local pubs throughout the UK is a further indicator of the trend towards lower levels of communal involvement. Churches, pubs and other local meeting places help to establish a web of social connections within local communities. The erosion of these local social connections has a disproportionate impact on people who are not in employment or who find their social connections through activities or interests. For example, older people with limited mobility who rely on neighbours to look out for them are more susceptible to loneliness in communities low in social capital.
It is also the case that the increasing pressure of modern life means that we often have less time for people on the margins of our social networks or even our grandparents. Inter-generational projects such as Homeshare – in which young people rent a room in the house of an older person – would not be required if local communities were able to provide care and support to all those within them.
Conversely, we are also not encouraged to connect with those we rub shoulders with on crowded commuter trains, where eye contact or polite conversation is taboo. It is interesting to observe how earphones, headsets and smartphones have now largely replaced books and newspapers as the method of social avoidance by choice. There is no equivalent taboo about talking to people in public spaces in more communal societies.
At its most extreme, the rise of individualism is reflected in the increase in far right groups across Europe and the US. The stalling of economic growth over the last decade has been accompanied by a growth in extremist political ideologies in which ‘the other’ has become an object of fear or loathing. Social relations have become more polarised between ‘them’ and ‘us’. The Brexit divide is one of many illustrations of this. An increase in distrust is associated with a decline in social connections – which at one time may have brought diverse parts of local communities together – thus increasing the potential for social fragmentation and loneliness.
Digital media and loneliness
This blog post was stimulated by some questions asked to me by a journalist about podcasts and loneliness. His questions were driven by the concern that the use of our devices – primarily smartphones – is causing loneliness. On a crowded commuter train in which everyone is more attuned to their phone than those around them, I can understand where this concern comes from. Although not an apologist for Samsung or Apple, I would like to suggest that our smartphones are more an indicator of our individualistic society than a cause of the apparent increase in loneliness. I’m certainly not alone in saying this.
Our phones provide us with the choice (a key feature of individualism) of who to engage with. We are becoming increasingly discerning about who we associate with as we have access to so many people by virtue of social media. When I grew up in the 1970s and 80s, the only people I had access to were those who lived close to me and those I saw each day. As I grew up on a farm a mile from the nearest village, that wasn’t very many. By contrast, my daughters and their friends – the millennials – have completely different opportunities for social engagement. Social media and online dating sites provide them with the opportunity to choose their friends and partners in very different ways to that available to us even as recent as 20 years ago. Today you can find a partner or escorts based on your own personal needs and preferences.
Alongside social media, the popularity of podcasts, on-demand digital content and t.v. box sets are increasing. They are a further representation of individualism as they allow us to pursue our interests wherever and whenever we wish. We are no longer restricted to listening to the radio or watching t.v. when a programme is scheduled to be broadcast. They provide us with a further opportunity to zone out from people who we don’t really want to talk to – at home just as much as on busy commuter trains. But I have not come across any evidence that they cause loneliness.
In one of my projects I am conducting some analysis exploring the association between the provision of digital media and loneliness. I can find no harmful effects. The provision of TVs, digital radios or tablets to formerly homeless people, or those rehoused following intimate partner violence, for example, is associated with reductions in loneliness and improvements in self-rated health. The causal pathway is not clear, and the effects of other interventions such as housing or social care are not measured, but the provision of digital media appears to have a positive role to play.
The journalist interested in podcasts was wondering if they could have a therapeutic effect. I haven’t come across any evidence to suggest this and I think they would need to be combined with something else to be effective. For example, there is an evidence base for cognitive behavioural therapy delivered online, but this is only an effective therapy if you do tasks offline. Just listening to something in a passive way may not be as effective as using it in an active way to make a difference in your life.
Engaging podcasts probably have a similar effect to that provided by reading a good book. They can take your mind into a different place and may have an immediate impact on how you are feeling. But they are unlikely to change the social connections you have, unless you are prompted and supported to do something about them. I wouldn’t like to suggest that they are either the cause or the cure of loneliness. That lies much deeper in the nature of our society.
3 thoughts on “Smartphones do not cause loneliness”
An interesting debate – which reminds me of former social panics including the concern about the undue influence of violent games, or indeed the fact that overuse of mobile phones would have harmful physical effects. It seems to me as stated above, that zoning out on commuter trains, buses etc. is not a reflection of loneliness, but is of a piece with the ‘me’ culture, whose ultimate expression is the selfie. Technology has given us the ability to focus on our own interests and preferences, and to ignore others around us, which was harder to do in the past when someone on a bus or train would just strike up a conversation with you, unasked. In other words digital media doesn’t equate to loneliness, but does equate to a re-orientation to the self and self-ish interests.
Strongly agree with your analysis Martin, people in local areas can live very atomised segregated lives today and technology makes that easier to do. Community links with people are so important for mental health and wellbeing none of us are islands unto ourselves.
An interesting debate – which reminds me of former social panics including the concern about the undue influence of violent games, or indeed the fact that overuse of mobile phones would have harmful physical effects. It seems to me as stated above, that zoning out on commuter trains, buses etc. is not a reflection of loneliness, but is of a piece with the ‘me’ culture, whose ultimate expression is the selfie. Technology has given us the ability to focus on our own interests and preferences, and to ignore others around us, which was harder to do in the past when someone on a bus or train would just strike up a conversation with you, unasked. In other words digital media doesn’t equate to loneliness, but does equate to a re-orientation to the self and self-ish interests.
Strongly agree with your analysis Martin, people in local areas can live very atomised segregated lives today and technology makes that easier to do. Community links with people are so important for mental health and wellbeing none of us are islands unto ourselves.