VENKAT: Alone together: Costs of modern isolation
People seem to be spending more time staring into the bright and colorful faces of their phone screens rather than speaking to their family or going out with their friends, which is taking a toll on society and how we interact with others. The quality of interpersonal relationships has declined in the modern day in a way that bolsters stark individualism but alienates people and halts the development or maintenance of social skills.
Human beings were always meant to be social creatures — this is evident in the way our brains and bodies function and in the way our societies and communities are structured. People have fought wars for their relationships, their families and their friends. We are meant to coexist with others and to make, form and maintain connections with them.
The self-determination theory in psychology posits that goal-driven behaviors are the product of three psychological needs: autonomy, relatedness and competence. The theory defines relatedness as the need to feel connected to others. It is characterized by a sense of community broken by modern relationships.
People spend increasingly less time with their loved ones, instead choosing to dedicate time to the ever-important internet. The average time spent with friends decreased by 26 minutes a day, and the time spent with people decreased by 11 minutes between 2003 and 2019. People find themselves lonely and yearning for connection while letting integral connections with people who are often within their reach slip away.
The main issue arises in that human beings experience a decline in mental health when their social interactions are limited. Most of us need other people to survive, not necessarily for physical needs but to keep ourselves mentally active. When exposed to extended periods of isolation, among other things, people are at an increased risk for depression, cognitive decline and higher mortality rates.
When considering the rapidly declining levels of social interaction that people experience nowadays, it is not a far stretch to imagine that they will be predisposed to worsening mental states if the current trends of social interactions continue.
This has a disproportionate effect on teenagers and young adults. The more than 45 percent fall in in-person interactions among teenagers in the past 20 years has acted as a lit matchstick in the haystack of growing rates of mental health issues in America's youth. Suicide rates and depression rates are skyrocketing to unprecedented levels.
Young people are sadder than ever before, aided largely by the loss of meaningful connections with others. This effect is often visible in real time on our University campus. On any bus across Rutgers' campuses, you see not students socializing and engaging in the college experience, not peers making friends and life-long connections, but a hoard of kids engrossed in the allure of their phones.
Moreover, the drop in levels of face-to-face interaction among adolescents has also caused a drop in social skills necessary to survive in the job market and the real world. Teenagers who make fewer friends and raise their hands less in school make for potential employees who cannot conduct themselves in interviews and adults who find themselves panicking in basic conversations.
Businesses have begun complaining about a lack of manners and social skills in younger candidates, which may result from the reduced human interaction. No matter how many degrees, diplomas and certificates one holds, regardless of the prestige of one's alma mater, interpersonal skills matter. The reliance on online communication directly correlates with the decline in social skills.
As a result, employers find that younger candidates have trouble collaborating with a team or developing client relationships. These skills are so important that businesses have even put schools on notice that produce hires lacking interpersonal skills. Entering the workplace unprepared to deal with and work with others can only have negative repercussions and cause a cascade of negative effects for the individual.
This phenomenon has only negative consequences for society. We must emphasize the importance of interpersonal skills and interactions. Without a sincere reconsideration of how we think about human interaction in the modern day, society at large will suffer in terms of the psychological state of our people.
Tejaswini Venkat is a first-year in the School of Arts and Sciences majoring in biological sciences and minoring in psychology. Venkat's column, “Unsolicited Opinions,” runs on alternate Tuesdays.
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