Solitude is, simply enough, “the state or condition of being alone,” explains Thuy-vy Nguyen, a researcher at Durham University, U.K., who studies solitude. Time alone might be voluntary or involuntary; it might be pleasant or unpleasant. It all depends on the context.
So, solitude is not necessarily bad, but is it beneficial? Nguyen is the principal investigator of Solitude Lab, where she and her team work to unravel these kinds of mysteries. They’ve found that solitude offers at least two important benefits.
It can provide “emotional regulation,” helping tamp down high-arousal emotions. It can also serve another, less immediate and perhaps even more important function: “It can foster a sense of autonomy by allowing individuals to engage with their environment in a manner and at a pace that suits them best,” says Nguyen.
Studying Solitude
And that last part is essential to beneficial solitude: It must be a matter of choice. In a 2023 study, Nguyen and colleagues looked at the benefits and harms of solitude and explored the ideal balance between solitude and socializing.
They found that when people spent time alone because they wanted to — if they were “choiceful” in their solitude, as the researchers put it — they felt just as satisfied as they would have felt if they had not been alone.
In these days of hyper-connectivity, it can be difficult to choose solitude. And it turns out that the difference between solitude and connection is a little more complicated than once thought.
Read More: What Happens When Humans Are Extremely Isolated?
Rethinking What It Means to be Alone
Morgan Ross, a researcher at Oregon State University who studies how people balance connection and disconnection in their daily lives, has challenged us to rethink solitude to take a closer look at what it means to be alone.
“We're really trying to push to have a definition of solitude that makes more sense in the current media environment,” he explains. He calls this new concept “social aloneness,” solitude with the potential for communication.
In a paper published this past December, Ross and colleagues described something they call “shades of solitude.” In each of these varieties of solitude, you are not interacting with other people, either in person or virtually, he explains.
However, the varying hues along the spectrum of solitude stretch from intense (alone in a cabin in the woods, lacking even your phone) to being alone but having some kind of engagement with others (spending a solitary afternoon watching cooking videos or reading blog posts).
“You're still engaged with someone else's thoughts, whether they're written in a book or posted on a social media feed,” says Ross. Knowing that you have a network of people available when you’re ready to connect makes solitude more comfortable, he adds. “It’s a temporary kind of break from your social ties. You can talk to people before, you can talk to them after, but during that moment, you're just focused on the benefits of being alone.”
Nor does solitude have to be lengthy to be beneficial. You don’t need to spend a week in a cabin in the woods to enjoy the benefits of solitude. You can indulge in what are, in effect, “mini cabins” — a solitary walk in the park, a few minutes on the patio with a book and a cup of tea — all with your phone in your pocket if you choose, so that your friends and loved ones are in reach if you need them.
“There are benefits to these lighter experiences of solitude,” says Ross. And you probably have more of them than you realize. “That couple minutes in the shower, that couple minutes commuting to work, are experiences that a lot of people have that they might not be thinking of as solitude but potentially get benefits from,” Ross says.
How to Make the Most of Solitude
Ross and Nguyen agree that getting the most from solitude requires intention and choice. Quite simply, and perhaps obviously, solitude is more beneficial if you seek it out rather than find yourself stuck in the middle of it — in other words, book the cabin, don’t get stranded there.
And indeed, Ross’s research has found that people who think that solitude doesn’t disconnect them from other people and who approach it with a positive attitude find it more restorative.
In addition, Nguyen suggests taking time to explore what you find pleasant and unpleasant during your alone time. “It often takes time to discover what works best for you,” she says. “Ultimately, the goal is to ensure that your alone time feels purposeful for you.” So customize that cabin in the woods, even if the “cabin” is your back porch.
Read More: Why Alone Time Carries a Stigma (Even If It Feels Great)
Article Sources
Our writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. Review the sources used below for this article:
Thuy-vy Nguyen. Solitude Lab
Nature. Balance between solitude and socializing: everyday solitude time both benefits and harms well-being
PLOS One. The tradeoff of solitude? Restoration and relatedness across shades of solitude
Avery Hurt is a freelance science journalist. In addition to writing for Discover, she writes regularly for a variety of outlets, both print and online, including National Geographic, Science News Explores, Medscape, and WebMD. She’s the author of Bullet With Your Name on It: What You Will Probably Die From and What You Can Do About It, Clerisy Press 2007, as well as several books for young readers. Avery got her start in journalism while attending university, writing for the school newspaper and editing the student non-fiction magazine. Though she writes about all areas of science, she is particularly interested in neuroscience, the science of consciousness, and AI–interests she developed while earning a degree in philosophy.
