It’s not just positive relationships that are good for us: their lack is horrible, utterly horrible, for our physical, emotional, and mental health. To be very clear, social isolation is a massive problem that wrecks people’s quality of life.
The US Surgeon General’s advisory made it clear that social disconnection is as bad for your health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. However, once again, these connections have to be meaningful to improve our lives. Superficial chitchat at work or elsewhere doesn’t count for much.
“To be clear, social connections don’t just mean happy hour or the water cooler chats we’ve mythologized since Covid killed the traditional workplace. True social connection is about creating moments of meaning that drive aligned purpose and belonging. Small or large affirmations that your voice matters, your colleagues trust you, your organization needs you. Social connection, or social capital, is the glue that holds your workplace together,” Ann Kowal Smith writes on Forbes.
Social disconnection affects more than just individual people’s lives or local communities. It costs American businesses roughly $154 billion a year. Employees who are socially connected are more productive. On the flip side, workers who find themselves isolated are not engaged. And they’re not happy. This leads to a lot of misery at work… and worse results for companies.
There are very clear reasons to foster meaningful connections and empathy, for individuals and businesses alike. And they’re easy to see whether you think altruism and relationships are valuable in their own right or if you’re looking at productivity spreadsheets. It sometimes takes a handful of silly memes to remind all of us that wholesomeness is a single kind act away.
Which of these memes did you think were the most wholesome, dear Pandas? What have you done recently to be kind to others? Share your thoughts in the comment section at the bottom of this article.
