Our thinking

Understanding isolation

10 April, 2020

While, around the world, most of us are socially distancing, our experiences vary: different difficulties and anxieties, but also different revelations and upsides. So innovative organisations are using their technology and networks to understand and uncover collective truths in our isolated lives. 

Social listening and machine-driven insight agency Discover.ai has published a report on the human response to social distancing across the world – produced using just two days of automated online research across social media, newspapers and blogs. The report outlines ten key attitudinal trends emerging from isolation. While some reflect the social media echo chamber, others, like ‘fast forward to a new future’, provide fascinating insight.  

Our friends at Shujazz, a Kenyan multimedia company doing amazing things to break down barriers for young people, have released a report based on how their many ‘fans’ are coping. The insights are striking: 96% of working young people in Kenya are employed in the informal sector, and many have lost their jobs and businesses. Fans, as young as 20, talk about the very real fear of starving to death if the pandemic does not end soon. However, Shujazz is also using its influence to raise awareness and quash damaging fake news, and its research shows it is succeeding. 

As we distance from each other, it is more crucial than ever to find new ways to understand one another – these kinds of innovative approaches are helping us do that.