Social Sciences

Remote work may save the commute. It may also remove the small social contact work used to provide.

A Science study of 588,322 US workers estimates that occupations which became much more remote after the pandemic also became more solitary, with larger increases in mental distress, especially among people living alone. This is not a blanket case against remote work or a mandate to return to the office. It is a warning that flexibility has a hidden design variable: social contact.