Americans are cancelling community gatherings and limiting neighborhood involvement in order to self-isolate and prevent the spread of the coronavirus. However necessary for public health, these efforts risk weakening our fragile social, civic, and economic ties. They also risk exacerbating political divisions during what is shaping up to be a bitter presidential election. Unlike cancelled events, the national political debate is still turned on and in our faces. During this pandemic, we need to take necessary precautions to stay safe and healthy. But we also need to get creative about maintaining our community attachments, albeit virtually, to avoid social isolation — and the spread of politically charged loneliness.
You see, loneliness and politics go together. People who choose to spend their free time engaging in politics tend to be lonelier than those who do other things in their communities, such as volunteering at local charities. Normally, when people get involved in their communities, social capital grows and loneliness declines. Our research, like that of many others, confirms this phenomenon. But we have also found that political engagement is a lone exception to this rule.
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