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and politicians will need to come up with
responses to them as the crisis wears on.
How do you see COVID-19 affecting social
connectedness in Australia and the world at
the moment?
The need to stay at home and radically
restrict our social connections will be very
difficult for many of us.
We know it is the right thing to do – that
our very lives and the lives of our loved
ones may depend on it – but it goes against
the grain of our very biology.
That is why right across the world people
are seeking out ways of maintaining social
connection even while they are also
maintaining physical distance.
Keep in touch
Staying socially connected
in an isolated world.
Marc Stears interviewed by Wade Zaglas
While it might sound trite, the
world as we know it has
changed for now.
Not only has this “invisible enemy” killed
thousands around the globe and sent
economies into a nosedive, the COVID-19
pandemic has introduced a slew of
health measures, including isolation and
self-distancing.
For Professor Marc Stears, director of
the Sydney Policy Lab at the University
of Sydney, this raises an important
consideration: “How can we stay socially
connected at the same time as we socially
distance?”
The expert in democratic theory and the
history of ideologies and social movement
spoke to Campus Review about how we
can retain social connectedness during
these times of change, and why it’s
important to do so.
CR: How important is social connectedness,
not only to individuals but the functioning
of society?
MS: Humans are essentially social creatures.
We crave company. That is how our biology
is set up. Without company, people fall
not only into loneliness, but mental and
physical ill-health too, and that creates all
kinds of problems for the individual and for
society at large.
Social isolation can cause other
difficulties. We know people are unlikely
to be as creative or productive on their
own, so that’s bad for the economy. And
we know too that people lose the ability
to challenge their own beliefs or open
themselves up to the views of others when
they are isolated, and that can cause real
long-term difficulties for democracy too.
None of these are big enough reasons
not to engage in radical social distancing
at this terrible time, but policymakers
What kinds of things can individuals and
societies at large do to try to retain that
sense of connectedness during these
isolating times? Is the internet going to be
the answer?
We have probably all seen the Italians
singing together from the balconies of
their apartments, letting their friends and
neighbours know they are there and still
want to do things together. Well, every
culture will soon have its own distinctive
version of that. There have been mass
dances in Holland, for example, with people
blasting out techno music from the park
and everyone jumping up and down in
their homes.
We don’t yet know what the Australian
version will be! But beyond that, yes, the
internet will help. People are arranging
coffee breaks or meals or drinking sessions
where they are connected through the
screen thanks to Zoom or Skype, and
Twitter and Facebook usage will likely go
through the roof too.
How important is the role of charities
and community groups right now while
simultaneously dealing with the pandemic
and huge losses in the job market?
Charities and community groups are
doing it tough right now. So many of them
depend on human contact to be able
to do their work or to raise their funds.
But they are hugely important at knitting
communities together and, especially, at
making sure potentially vulnerable people
are not forgotten in this enormous crisis.
Many of them are talking and planning as
we speak about how they can keep going
and take their work either online or do
more of it over the phone. ■
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