Is Home Co-Working the Solution to Our Remote Work Loneliness?

America is in the midst of a loneliness epidemic. Could one simple but effective solution be staring us in the face?

What are America's top public health concerns? Your first guess might be?drugs,?obesity, or the possibility of another pandemic. But you probably didn't think of one pressing issue?the Surgeon General flagged?earlier this month.?

"Right now, millions of people are telling us through their stories and statistics that their tank is running on empty when it comes to social connection,"?Vivek Murthy announced. "This has to be a public health priority that we consider on par with tobacco."?

Given how horrendous smoking is for your health, that might sound like an exaggeration. But studies have actually shown that?loneliness can be as damaging to your health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day?-- and it's on the rise. Even before the pandemic, 61 percent of Americans described themselves as lonely.?Research?and a whole lot of?anecdotal evidence suggest the increase in remote work since then has only made the problem worse.??

Americans' isolation has varied and complex causes. The decline in adult friendships, the rise of social media, the design of our neighborhoods and?family structures, and the way late capitalism structures our time and relationships all deserve some interrogation. But as an individual, many of these factors are hard to fix -- though there is no shortage of?advice and?apps?out there if you want to make more friends.?

A recent BBC Worklife article?suggests a simple fix for at least the remote work component of our increasingly lonely lifestyles --?how about working remotely together with a colleague, fellow entrepreneur, or friend??

Working from home, together?

This phenomenon is known as home co-working,?and the BBC's Uri Bram speaks to a handful of remote workers who swear the approach has radically improved their lives. "I realized it increases both my joy level and my productivity level,"?writer Elsa Goos tells Bram of her sessions working side-by-side with a friend in her Brooklyn living room.

Project manager Eowyn Dean says working together with friends doesn't just keep loneliness at bay; it also improves her productivity. "The more different types of things you see people do in context, the more you think, 'Oh, I could integrate that into what I'm doing, in a completely unexplored way,'"?she says. Science confirms?stealing helpful behaviors from friends?is a surprisingly effective way to establish good habits.?

Of course,?organized co-working spaces?have been around for years and promise members a similar conviviality. But they require both money and some kind of?commute. Swapping days working together at your place and a friend's is both free and means leaving home only half as much. Plus, you get to choose exactly who you spend your time with -- though the chance?you'll end up wasting time chatting with random connections at your co-working space is probably lower.?

Obvious but often overlooked

Is the idea of fighting back against loneliness by inviting over a friend to work with you blindingly simple? Of course. It doesn't take a PhD to see that the solution to loneliness is more time with other people. But I'm willing to bet that a surprisingly large number of entrepreneurs who have the flexibility to give home co-working a try have never considered it. Many of us just put?hanging out with friends?and?being productive?in completely different mental boxes.?

But Bram's story holds out the intriguing possibility that these two things might not necessarily be opposed. Working with others can not only spur productivity through a bit of friendly competition, but also allow good habits to rub off on you and stave off the mental and physical harms of loneliness. At a cost of zero dollars -- and at worst, a few wasted hours with someone you like seeing anyway --?it certainly deserves a try.?