Solitude, or being alone, has traditionally been considered a matter of being physically separated from other people. As the world becomes increasingly mediated, we have to rethink what it is to be alone and reconceptualize it as "noncommunication," according to a University of Michigan researcher.
Scott Campbell
In a newly published article in Communication Theory, Scott Campbell and his co-author argue that solitude is not something that people fully experience while connected to the internet and cell phones. Campbell, professor and chair of the U-M Department of Communication and Media, conducts research on the meanings and daily uses of mobile media and communication.
Why is it important to reconceptualize what solitude means?
Solitude has been approached from a number of different research traditions, resulting in disconnected streams of theory. Furthermore, these streams were developed before the rise of the internet and mobile media. As a result, solitude is commonly, if not most commonly, conceptualized and measured as a matter of being physically alone. This article reconceptualizes solitude as "noncommunication" to offer a more contemporary and inclusive perspective, one that uproots it from ideations of physical aloneness and replants it in social aloneness.
How are you defining solitude?
Solitude has always been defined as being alone, and we are not trying to change that. What we are trying to change is that people (re)consider being alone as a matter of noncommunication, as opposed to "getting away" from others. What we are trying to change is the extent to which people realize how connected they are and the extent to which media have become the fabric of everyday social life. People often say or think "I am sitting here by myself," when they don't realize that because they have a chat going, they are not actually alone. Merely having a phone in someone's presence can structure the way they think and feel in the moment, and we see this as an intrusion to solitude. This may be good or bad, depending on the situation. The point is that people can become more mindful of what solitude is and how it is experienced when thinking of it as noncommunication.
What does this research mean in the big picture?
We suggest that people should direct more thought into intentionally carving out times, places and activities for being alone, not just in the realm of atoms and molecules, but in the realm of bits and bytes as well.
What harm might this new sort of digital, together-alone state be doing to us?
