Our View: Connection durangoherald.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from durangoherald.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Covid-19: a pandemic of social isolation?
To build more connected, inclusive and happier communities in Pakistan, a massive shift in the mindset is required
The writer is a development consultant based in Lahore
The Covid-19 pandemic has made people lonelier than ever. After the strict lockdown, face-to-face socialisation for many is limited to members of their households. While social isolation and loneliness existed prior to Covid-19, governments’ stay-at-home orders, quarantine and social distancing further exacerbated the problem. Today’s world is increasingly witnessing an erosion of ties and social connections, disconnection from other fellow beings, relatives, friends, employers, co-workers and governments.
March 13th, 2021
Justin Paget via Getty Images
The quarantine orders enacted in response to COVID-19, while absolutely necessary to stem the spread of the disease, have really done a number on our collective mental health. This past year of self-enforced isolation and social distancing runs contrary to humanity s deep-seated need for community interaction. We are simply hard-wired to socialize.
But the pandemic is not entirely to blame for our precipitous decline in socialization. Steady advances in automation technologies have increasingly enabled corporations to minimize human interaction as a cost-saving strategy. In her latest book,
The Lonely Century, British economist Noreena Hertz takes an incisive look at the emotional, societal and political costs of a frictionless economy, how the pandemic has exacerbated the problem, and what we can do to reconnect with one another.
It s not up to big retailers to solve problems such as social isolation | Business thetimes.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from thetimes.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.