Social distancing is worsening our ability to agree
Thursday 21 January 2021
Covid isolation has pushed us further apart, both physically and politically. Unable to mix with others, it’s easy to imagine that everyone is facing the same challenges. But that’s not the case, and we’re quickly losing our empathy.
Paper rounds were once a familiar sight. Every morning, children would get up at the crack of dawn to deliver the daily newspaper to local residents. People would start their day with a coffee and their favourite paper. The same newspaper every day.
Nowadays, our reliance on printed news has subsided. But the pattern with which we chose our news sources has not. People still prefer news that fits their views. And this has intensified with social media whose models carefully select posts that are more likely to retain our attention. Unsurprisingly these often happen to be things we agree with. The result is more anger and frustration directed towards points of view that differ to our own, simply because we are less accustomed to dealing with differing perspectives online.
A similar concept has crept into our physical lives. 2020 saw people isolate into social bubbles, protecting themselves from viral infections but also from alternative outlooks. As we have sought to limit our outside interactions, we’ve also replaced our banter in bars, chats in queues and brief exchanges on commutes with limited but intense conversations with close friends and family. Our bubbles have given us an excuse to do away with unneeded interactions with strangers and ignore the disproportionate social impact of lockdowns.
Like any bubble, our isolated social groups will eventually burst open. The pandemic has hit people to very different extents, but the reality of just how much we’ve drifted apart from one another will only really be comprehensible when we finally leave our homes. As cumbersome as 2020 was, past challenges have not disappeared. Climate change, racism and income inequality will demand deep consideration for other people’s circumstances.
Key elections are on the way in Germany and France. But with everyone’s heads buried in their socially distanced sandpits, we’re running the risk of being shocked, once again, by overwhelming conservative nationalism that brought us Trump and Brexit.
It’s time to open our eyes. We’re not yet able to re-explore the strange and different, but let’s make sure it doesn’t scare us when we can.
