Is Isowork and AI Going to Trigger a Mental Health Crisis?

Okay, let’s start with this: most of you probably don’t know what “isowork” is. That’s fair because I just made it up. There’s no dictionary definition yet. Essentially, it’s the new remote working paradigm where people are working isolated; by design.

With the rise of delivery services, on-demand solutions, and the shift to remote or work-from-home setups, social interaction is shrinking, offices are empty and the “workplace” has ceased to exist for many. But if people are forced to work in isolation, where’s the human connection?

Sure, tools like ChatGPT (and other AI models) make great conversation partners, faux love interests or sounding boards. They also offer perspectives and insights (sometimes wrong or misleading) .. that even the most experienced coworker might struggle to match. But here’s the core question: is all that really good for humans?

From a corporate perspective, isolated workers are often a dream—low cost, low maintenance, and no office drama. It’s efficient. But let’s “get real”, if workers are detached from all human contact and their “coworkers” are AI, what’s the future of the office or will there even be a workplace?

Empty rental offices have a huge economic downside; I recently came across a post about office loan delinquency rates. https://lnkd.in/geA3hkWA. Sure, that’s a concern for mortgage lenders, but what about the people who used to be in them? What happens to mental health when isolation becomes the norm?

We are heading straight back to COVID lockdown days for many, but not to keep people safe .. it’s being done under the guise of “progress”: I don’t think we’re ready for the mental health damage that’s coming.

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