Covid-19 has upended daily activities we have long taken for granted, from catching up with colleagues at the office pantry, to dining out with friends and exercising at the gym.

While life is slowly returning to normal in Singapore, I am sure many of us have stories to tell about friends — or even ourselves — feeling lonely or suffering from a sense of social isolation at one point or another during the current crisis.

I know of an acquaintance who began taking solo long bus rides to nowhere because she wanted some form of “normalcy” after staring at her computer for hours on end.

Humans are social species. An average person spends about 80 per cent of his/her waking hours in the company of others. 

One suffers from loneliness when one perceives oneself to be socially isolated, even when surrounded by other people.

Various research shows that social isolation has been associated with lower subjective well-being such as happiness and life satisfaction; negative health effects, mortality and morbidity.

Loneliness, which can occur at any phase of our lives, is not problematic in itself. But prolonged feelings of loneliness put people at risk, and can lead them to withdraw themselves from society.

A classic behavioural study by American psychologist Harry Harlow and his colleagues in 1965 using rhesus monkeys discovered that when isolated monkeys were released into the colony, most were driven off or eliminated.

Applying this to humans, lonely men and women can morph from being socially isolated to physically isolated. 

This is akin to Japan’s hikikomori, people who withdraw into their homes and do not participate in society for an extended period of time.

With loneliness affecting more people than ever in this Covid-19 era of social distancing and periodic lockdowns, how can we prevent feeling socially isolated while retaining a sense of purpose in life?

One solution is to do volunteer work.

During a recent engagement session I conducted for a group of volunteers to promote well-being and an active lifestyle, one participant said that she felt lonely and homesick when she first arrived in Singapore three years ago, all alone, to work here.

She decided to join a volunteer group where she accompanies people with special needs and senior citizens to exercise as well as promotes the use of digital devices among older adults.

This helped her to reduce her sense of loneliness. 

Volunteerism helped the woman to find new friendships and joy in her new home through a renewed sense of purpose to serve others and the less privileged.

Prior to the Covid-19 outbreak, volunteerism did not figure high in Singaporeans’ list of social norms, according to a study conducted by Associate Professor Leong Chan-Hoong from the Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS).

Volunteer work, in the form of helping out or organising community events, ranked 37th in importance out of 40 types of social norms listed in the survey.

However, this may change in the future, if recent events are anything to go by.

The past few months have seen more and more Singaporeans, whether individually or in groups, coming forward voluntarily to help those badly affected by the pandemic, such as low-wage Singaporeans who have lost their jobs, vulnerable elderly, frontline health personnel, or Malaysian workers stranded here due to their country’s lockdown.

Hopefully, what started out on an ad hoc basis will turn into something more permanent for these Singaporeans — and others — even after the crisis has abated.

Research has also shown that volunteering helps individuals find purpose and meaning in their lives.

This can have a long-lasting positive impact since it directly alters a person’s view of himself or herself. 

Taken in this light, one should not regard doing volunteer work as just a “do-good” act. Volunteerism should be seriously considered as an essential life role for everyone, on top of one’s work and family roles.

Parents can play a big role in educating our young about the benefits of volunteerism.

For example, they can take the lead such as taking their children to an old folks’ home during the weekend — instead of going out shopping or catching a movie — to bring cheer to its often lonely residents.

Such outings will not only impart life lessons to the children but also offer a perfect opportunity for the family to bond further over a worthy cause.

To attract more people to do volunteer work, charity organisations could offer various one-off projects without the need for a commitment over a long period of time.

These organisations should also not shy away from constantly asking for volunteers since some studies have shown that the No.1 reason why people volunteer is because they were asked.

New volunteers could also be assigned a buddy or mentor who could help them not only with the practical aspects of volunteering, but also inspire them with personal stories of how volunteering has enriched the mentor’s life.

To help young people looking to start a volunteering initiative, established volunteer groups could offer advice in areas such as event planning and publicity, as well as how they can apply for permits for their activities.

Another way is to provide training opportunities for volunteers.

For example, SUSS runs a course on high-performing charities and has conducted training for hundreds of volunteers and those holding leadership positions in Voluntary Welfare Organisations.

The skill sets, knowledge and attitude gained through volunteerism and training is also transferable to the workplace, family and life in general.

It has often been said that in every crisis, there is an opportunity. The pandemic has given us a chance to reflect on how we can live better with purpose and meaning – our life capital to reduce loneliness, if it ever comes.

We can take the first step by volunteering in a cause we believe in — not just for the beneficiaries’ sake but for ourselves, too.

As Mahatma Gandhi once said: “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Sng Hock Lin is pursuing a PhD in gerontology at the Singapore University of Social Sciences. He completed his master's degree in gerontology at SUSS, where he received the Alice Lim Memorial Fund gold award.