‘It could result in a pandemic of loneliness’: Peers report on how digital Covid lives altered wellbeing

Yuval Noah Harrari wrote recently that pre-internet, if the entire population of a country had been ordered to stay at home for several weeks – as happened in the spring of 2020 and again in November and January – it would have “resulted in economic ruin, social breakdown and mass starvation”. In the last 12 months, while the economy has taken a hit and there has been a swell in loneliness and anxiety, the widespread ability to move our lives online, was for many, a salvation. 

It was the place we could order our big shop, speak to friends and family, and do our jobs. Going online meant that we could stay at home – although frontline workers were not so protected by a screen – and ensure that virus transmission was reduced, in a bid to protect the NHS and keep the death toll as low as possible. Although: there have still been over 120,000 deaths.

Despite the obvious perks that the online world brought when our world changed overnight, there are long-term implications of moving to a digitised world – especially when many are still lacking basic access to the internet and thus risk being further shut out down the line. To presume that technology is universally the great leveller is a mistake.

The House of Lords today publishes a report, “Beyond Digital: Planning for a Hybrid World”, looking at our digital futures. The committee was established in May 2020 and over the last year has used information from 300 written evidence submissions, 500 social media posts and over 4,000 people sharing their views.

It acknowledges both the perks of the online world – “it is what made it possible for governments to introduce the restrictions that they did” – and explains the massive acceleration that has happened to many pre-existing digital trends, such as online GP appointments.

However it also clearly lays out that many people – especially those who are already marginalised or disadvantaged – have “suffered unnecessarily, for want of the things that have become such basic essentials of modern life”. “The future was always going to be hybrid – an increasingly blurred mix of online and offline aspects of life,” it says.

It also looked more specifically at how this shift has impacted our wellbeing, both physical and mental. “In each area, we found that there had been real (and sometime surprising) benefits to some people from the sudden shift to digital; benefits that must not be lost in a desire to ‘return to normal.’ We also heard plenty of examples where digital was a very poor substitute for ‘in person’ services and interactions. This year has left many of us longing for, and appreciating, the value of human contact as never before.”

The report highlights the risk that this could have in developing a “pandemic of loneliness”. This is already well reported. According to a survey of UK adults by the Mental Health Foundation, which took place nine months into Covid-19 restrictions in late November, one in four (24 per cent) said they had feelings of loneliness in the “previous two weeks”. Figures from ONS suggested that in the first lockdown about 2.6 million adults felt lonely “often” or “always”.

“From automated check-out tills, to pub and library closures, homeworking and digital personal trainers, there is a legitimate fear that the digitalisation driven by one pandemic could result in another: a pandemic of loneliness,” says the Lords report. As a result it suggests that any government action on loneliness strategy needs to “be genuinely new and to take into account fully the profound changes of the last year”.

“And this means we – society, government, individuals – can no longer think about ‘digital’ as being something separate, but must recognise that the online and offline worlds are increasingly blending together and consider the...risks to our wellbeing in that context.”

It also looks at how changes to workplaces – with many working from home – can create its own problems for wellbeing that both employers and the government should be wary of, such as “people feeling (and being) constantly, electronically, monitored at work, working longer and longer hours, unable to switch off or maintain a separation between work and home”. It also describes these trends as ‘e-presenteeism’ (always having to be at your laptop).

The report concludes that “without urgent action” by the government to combat loneliness, things will only get worse. “[It is clear] that loneliness has increased significantly while our only real outlet for interaction has been digital...the experience of the pandemic shows the importance of face-to-face interaction and that work to address loneliness is more important than ever.”