Isolation - not good for the mind!

One of the reasons I am putting up this post is because, over the past two years or so now, I have been working only three days a week, reduced from five days. From time to time, I find that there is no need for me to leave home, for example, unless I have to do some shopping, or I find other reason for making the 8km cycle into Galway city.

What springs to mind is solitary confinement - a special form of imprisonment where the prisoner is isolated from all human contact, with the exception of prison staff. The term is also referred to as "the hole", "lockdown" or "AdSeg" (Administrative Segregation) in the US, and many prisons where it is used defend its use when there is need to control an exceptionally violent and dangerous prisoner.

Many groups advocating against solitary confinement claim that it causes sometimes untold negative psychological effects, causing mental health problems in a prisoner who came into prison in reasonably good mental health, and exacerbating illness in those who are already mentally infirm.

I realise you may consider it rather extreme to compare staying at home alone all day (seclusion) to solitary confinement. I know that a few days, 2-3 few consecutive days being home alone may not do a lot of damage, but if it goes on any longer, there is the possibility of becoming a recluse, of "social withdrawal" taking its toll.

What do I say?

Switch off the TV. Switch off the Playstation. Switch off the Internet. Find a reason to get out there, then get out there and mix with your fellow human beings!