1. Envisioned disaster: The lonely society
The name of the solution: Technology free day
Area: Disaster response
Prepared by: Alina Khakimova, Uzbekistan

2. Why is that a disaster?
Researchers suggest that loneliness is becoming more common:
• Almost half of us (48%) strongly agree or agree that people are
getting lonelier in general (Mental Health Foundation, 2010)
• When polled as part of a 1984 questionnaire, respondents most
frequently reported having three close confidants. When the
question was asked again in 2004, the most common response was
zero confidants (Askt, 2008)
• The number of hours people spend interacting face-to-face has
fallen dramatically since 1987, as the use of electronic media has
increased (BBC, 2009)
• Loneliness may be contagious: people close to someone
experiencing loneliness were 52-percent more likely to become
lonely as well (Cacioppo et al., 2009)
This trend is unfortunate, since experts believe that it is not the
quantity of social interaction that combats loneliness, but that it is
the quality.

3. What is loneliness and why is it dangerous?
Depression
and suicide
To feel lonely is to be
overwhelmed by an
Alcoholism and unbearable feeling of Increased stress
drug abuse levels
separateness, at a very
deep level (MIND, 2011)
Antisocial
behavior

4. What are the causes?
The way we communicate with each other has changed due to new technologies:
• Increased internet use has been linked to higher
loneliness scores in adolescents (Engelberg and
Television Sjoberg, 2004)
Internet
• Heavy television viewers have been found to be
more pessimistic, less happy in their lives and
Mobile engage in fewer activities outside the home
phones (Argyle, 1992). A source of this relative life
dissatisfaction is that they are more socially
withdrawn.
• We might choose to send an email instead of
Increased levels of meet face-to-face or write an SMS, which may be
loneliness more convenient but doesn’t really give the same
depth and quality of interaction.

5. What are the causes? (continued)
• The growth of social networking sites facilitates connectivity, but
they don’t include the physical contact that benefits our well-
being. In addition, they undermine social skills and the ability to
read body language because face-to-face interaction is a complex
exchange involving body chemistry. Face-to-face contact
stimulates production of the neuropeptide oxytocin, the hormone
of ‘affiliation’: it prevents detrimental cardiac responses, and is
believed to underpin the link between social contact and healthy
hearts (Mental Health Foundation, 2010).
• The type of information that is available on Facebook and other
social networking sites might actually increase feelings of
loneliness (McEwan, 2011). Reading other people’s walls and
looking through photos can fuel feelings of separateness and
exclusion.

6. How to respond to the disaster?
• Organize a nationwide day during which people will be promoted to abstain from using all
communication technology and social media (television, video games, MP3 players, all
computer use, social networking sites, cell phones, texting, landline phones, and electronic
media devices that would connect to the Internet)

7. Why I think it would be successful?
Disconnect 36: a classroom experiment
In the spring 2010, an experiment was conducted for which majority of
students agreed to disconnect from all communication technology and social
media for 36 hours.
Here are some of the outcomes of the experiment:
Students realized The assignment Extra time was used Many of the students
that they lacked made them realize to make new friends stated that they had
interpersonal that time issues with among people who rarely communicated
relationships finishing homework like the same things. with people out of
because most of stemmed from Students played their personal circles,
their emotions and media and charades, engaged in but Disconnect36
thoughts are shared technology multi-player card necessitated that
through email or text distraction rather games, and had they be open and
messages and rarely than not having coffee dates with communicate in
occur in face to face enough time. other students and different ways
interaction. friends. (Flippin-Wynn and
Tindall, 2011).

8. Expectations from the solution
Disconnect36 was an important and enlightening experience for the students who participated. They
learned how they are linked, connected, and in some cases addicted to social media, and they also learned
how they manage their time and information through social networking. Some students even suggested it
should be expanded to 48 instead of just 36 hours.
If we want to secure ourselves from being lonely, then we have to examine the role that media and
technology play in our lives. By instituting the technology free day, it is possible to obtain the same positive
results as in the Disconnect36 experiment.

9. Expectations from the solution (continued)
The purposes of the technology free days is to demonstrate that:
• When we temper use of technology and consumption of media, the first thing that we gain is time for
mainly family and friends, those whom we love and trust to. We do not waste time online or on couches.
Schedule time for a face to face meeting with your friends and family during this day to connect on a
deeper and more personal level. Only that way we will not feel ourselves isolated, and there will be no
threat to our mental and physical health.
• Technology is not at all a bad thing, but the key is gaining an understanding of what is enough, what is too
much and where does the technology best fit? Like anything in life, using technology to our benefit
without isolating ourselves, is about finding a balance. We should use it when appropriate but favor face-
to-face contact. Otherwise we’re in danger of replacing human interaction and all the expression and
warmth that comes with it with words on a screen.

10. References
• Argyle, M., (1992). The Social Psychology of Everyday Life. [online] London: Routledge. Available from: Google books.
<http://books.google.com/books> [Accessed 10 November 2011]
• Askt, D., (2008). A talk with John Cacioppo: A Chicago scientist suggests that loneliness is a threat to your health. The Boston
Globe. [online] Available from: <
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2008/09/21/a_talk_with_john_cacioppo/> [Accessed 5 November
2010]
• BBC, (2009). Online networking harms health. [online] Available from: <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7898510.stm>
[Accessed 11 November, 2011].
• Cacioppo, J. T., Fowler, J. H., and Christakis, N. A, (2009). Alone in the crowd: The structure and spread of loneliness in a large
social network. [online] Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 97, No. 6, 977–991. Available from:
<http://jhfowler.ucsd.edu/> [Accessed 5 November 2010]
• Engelberg, E. and Sjoberg, L., (2004). Internet use, social skills, and adjustment. [online] CyberPsychology & Behavior, Vol. 7
pp.41 - 47. Available from: <http://www.dynam-
it.com/lennart/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=50&layout=blog&Itemid=75> [Accessed 5 November
2010]
• Flippin-Wynn, M. and Tindall , N.T.J. , (2011). Disconnect36: A Social Experiment to Teach Students to Shut Down, Turn off,
and Understand Connectivity. In Wankel , C., (ed.) Teaching Arts and Science with the New Social Media (Cutting-edge
Technologies in Higher Education, Volume 3). Emerald Group Publishing Limited, pp.265-281.
• Mental Health Foundation, (2010). The Lonely Society. [online] Available from:
<http://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/publications/the-lonely-society/> [Accessed 15 November 2011]
• McEwan, B., (2011). Hybrid engagement: How Facebook helps and hinders students’ social integration. In Wankel, L.A. and
Wankel, C., (ed.) Higher Education Administration with Social Media (Cutting-edge Technologies in Higher Education, Volume
2). Emerald Group Publishing Limited, pp.3-23
• MIND, (2011). How to cope with loneliness. [online] Available from:
<http://www.mind.org.uk/help/diagnoses_and_conditions/loneliness> [Accessed 10 November 2011]