Home alone: Remote work, isolation, and mental health.

How does remote work affect isolation and mental health? We drew on five nationally representative surveys of American workers (N = 588,322) conducted from 2011 to 2024, omitting the peak pandemic years of 2020-2021. Our difference-in-differences approach compared changes in mental health among people in remotable jobs-who experienced a large and persistent rise in remote work since COVID-19-to people in nonremotable jobs, where remote work increased far less. We found that remote work increases time spent alone, worsens mental well-being across multiple measures, and increases the use of mental health services and prescriptions. These effects were concentrated among individuals living alone. We estimate that the rise of remote work explains about a third of the increase in isolation and mental distress between 2011-2019 and 2022-2024.