[shred45]

There may be some backlash, given how painful the transition has been for a lot of people. I think a lot of people are conflating "remote work" with "social distancing". The later is the cause of a lot of your feelings of loneliness. The former can significantly increase your flexibility to maintain quality relationships. As someone who works 100% remotely, this has been an especially lonely period for me as well.

Right now, many people are still getting used to working from home, and many I suspect consider this to be a temporary measure, which has prevented them from getting settled. In a real switch to remote work, you would be properly invested in setting up a long-term productive environment. The beauty of remote work is you would have the agency to experiment and find what habits and schedules makes you the most productive, without the added constraints of the office. This process would probably take several months, and for a while you would miss the structure of the office, but I think it has the possibility to increase your productivity and quality of life.

For me, remote work does not mean that I work alone, it just means I work with a group of other remote workers that I consider to be close friends. I think it has the potential to increase quality social interactions while working, not decrease. In a society where more people are working remotely, I think the ability to forge relationships outside of work will only increase.