Nishiyama 1

Regina Nishiyama

English 1302

Mr. W Nolen

13 February 2022

Isolation Affecting Productivity

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the lives of people all over the world in many

negative ways. Besides physical, measurable data on how COVID-19 affects health, researchers

are still trying to figure out the mental aspect of COVID. A major attribute of this pandemic and

the mental health affects is the time people have spent in isolation. Isolation in itself comes with

negative effects to mental health and mixing the effects of isolation with a new and unknown

virus has been a terrain many people are still navigating. Feeling alone is very detrimental on a

person’s health, so it is important to figure out just how it affects ones mental health, and ways to

help reduce feelings of loneliness. This study on productivity inside and outside of isolation

demonstrates how a person cannot be productive when in isolation due to the negative effects,

such as feelings of depression and overwhelm, it has on their mental health and motivation.

Many people have gone from living their regular day to day lives, and then instantly

having to stay home and stay put because they contracted COVID-19. This is exactly how the

experiment started with my subject. They spent three days at school, practice, and work going

through their daily routine and getting their work done. After those three days the subject

contracted covid, and had to be put into isolation. Because the subject lives at home with their

family who did not contract the virus, they were completely isolated and spent ten days in their

room. To avoid contact with anyone and to keep them as isolated as possible, food and other

necessities were delivered to their door. Their entire routine was affected and they had to figure
 Nishiyama 2

out how to live their life while quarantined in a small room with little to no outlets to help them

relieve the stress of the drastic change.

Using the screen time average from a span of six days, provided from an iPhone, the

number of hours spent on the phone are able to show how productive the subject was that day. If

the screen time was high, the subject spent less time being productive and more time using the

iPhone for entertainment. Three days of screen time where the subject was not in isolation due to

COVID-19 were compared to three days of screen time where the subject was in isolation.

Productivity was also measured by the amount of homework or time studying the subject was

able to do by the end of the day.

On the first non-isolated day the subject accumulated a total of eight hours and twenty-

five minutes of screen time and was able to finish reading two articles and one assignment for

two different classes. On the second non-isolated day, the subject spent seven hours and thirty-

four minutes on their phone and was able to finish three assignments for two different classes.

On the third non-isolated day, the subject recorded five hours and thirty-six minutes of screen

time and finished one quiz and read one two chapters for two different classes.

After these three days, the subject was put into isolation due to COVID-19, and

noticeably their screen time went up and productivity went down due to the negative effects of

the isolation. On the first isolated day, the subject accumulated fifteen hours and fifty-seven

minutes of screen time, almost twice the time compared to the first non-isolated day. On the

second isolated day, the subject spent eighteen hours and fifty-two minutes on their phone and

still made no improvement on studying on homework. On the third isolated day, the subject

recorded seventeen hours and five minutes of screen time and only did one assignment for one

class.
 Nishiyama 3

Noticeably, the data collected from the first three days to the last three days, doubles

denoting less productivity. The numbers collected allow for a simple conclusion: isolation has a

negative effect on productivity. According to the subject, being in the same environment for

relaxation and work made them feel like they were “never able to walk away to relax and forget

about work” in order to have motivation to do their work. The subject also stated that “isolation

kept [them] feeling overwhelmed and unmotivated to advance on work.” The subject also shared

that “spending time on [their] phone allowed them to feel less isolated from everyone, and so

[they] continued to spend more time on it in order to feel less alone.” The following emotional

data accounts for why the screen time doubled and emphasizes the negative effects of isolation

on productivity.

Feelings of depression and anxiety are some of the most common mental health

symptoms that come with covid. In a study done by Sensik et. Al., they state that “the isolation

period may cause the occurrence of psychological effects such as depression and anxiety by

leading to changes in people’s living conditions, a decrease in social and physical contact, and

separation from their loved ones” (2020). This information gives the study above more

background as to why the subject was unable to be productive during their time in quarantine.

Sensik says that because a person is removed from their usual living conditions, psychological

illnesses rise, making it harder for the person to be productive.

While the research aforementioned, was conducted on only one subject, Toscano and

Zappala were able to conduct research measuring remote work satisfaction during the COVID-19

pandemic on a larger scale of people. They used a 15 question 5-point Likert scale questionnaire

on a group of 265 people ranging from age and gender, to assess the feelings people had while

working from home. According to the article, “results show that social isolation is negatively
 Nishiyama 4

related to remote work satisfaction” (Toscano, Zappala 2020). They were able to back this

conclusion up with a line graph showing a negative correlation between remote work satisfaction

and social isolation (Toscano, Zappala 2020). This information is relevant because it highlights

the negative effects the COVID-19 isolation had on the productivity of those who were

navigating working from home.

The two different experiments lead readers to the same conclusion: isolation due to

COVID-19 has negative effects on productivity. Although the first experiment was simpler and

on a smaller scale, the results still showed a decrease in productivity during isolation. The second

experiment was able to find that isolation does decrease productivity, but the more a subject is

worried about COVID-19, the more it affects their productivity and stress levels. Although a

similar larger scale experiment has been done, this experiment is able to add the effects of screen

time reducing the feeling of isolation while negatively affecting productivity. This is substantial

because although the subject was able to find a way to decrease the negative effects isolation has

on mental health, such as feelings of loneliness, the loss of productivity poses a new problem:

how to feel less isolated while still being productive.

One would assume that removing all distractions and isolating themselves would help

them improve productivity, but from the aforementioned research, data shows that isolation

negatively affects productivity. The first study was able to provide how a subject would use their

iPhone as a way to feel less isolated and in turn negatively affect their productivity. The second

study allows for readers to better understand the mental aspect of isolation. And lastly, the third

study adds to this information by providing more evidence that isolation is not good for

productivity. In the end, we are able to discover that quarantine is harmful for a person's mental

health, in turn diminishing their motivation which affects their productivity. Now that we know
 Nishiyama 5

one’s productivity is negatively affected by isolation, we need to figure out how to combat this

issue during this pandemic.

 Nishiyama 6

Work Cited

Şenışık, Seçkin, et al. “The Effect of Isolation on Athletes' Mental Health during the COVID-19

Pandemic.” Taylor & Francis, The Physician and Sportsmedicine , 4 Aug. 2020,

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00913847.2020.1807297.

Toscano, Ferdinando, and Salvatore Zappalà. “Social Isolation and Stress as Predictors of

Productivity Perception and Remote Work Satisfaction during the COVID-19

Pandemic: The Role of Concern about the Virus in a Moderated Double

Mediation.” MDPI, Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute, 24 Nov. 2020,

https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/23/9804.