Re-Conceptualizing Solitude in the Digital Era: From “Being Alone” to “Noncommunication”

Abstract

This article revisits the theoretical terrain surrounding solitude to address conceptual, methodological, and practical challenges manifest in the digital era. First, solitude has been approached from a number of different research traditions, resulting in disconnected streams of theory. Furthermore, these streams were developed before the rise of the Internet and mobile media. As a result, solitude is commonly, if not most commonly, conceptualized and measured as a matter of being physically alone. This article re-conceptualizes solitude as “noncommunication” to offer a more contemporary and inclusive perspective, one that uproots it from ideations of physical aloneness and replants it in social aloneness. Whereas previous theory in this area often ignores mediated interaction, we recognize it as a meaningful way for people to connect, with important implications for solitude. Our framework also calls for interrogation of key contextual factors that condition whether and how solitude is experienced in the digital era.