Remote work promised something simple: work from wherever you want, without losing hours at a fixed desk. And it delivered. People prefer it so much that many would accept a pay cut to avoid going back to the office.
But there’s a cost that doesn’t show up in productivity rankings.
A study published in Science in June 2026 analyzed more than 588,000 American workers between 2011 and 2024 (excluding the hardest pandemic years). It compared people in “remotable” jobs (those that could be done from home) with those whose jobs weren’t. The result is clear: remote work increases the time you spend alone, worsens mental well-being, and raises the use of mental health services and medication.
The effects are concentrated among people who live alone. For them, the probability of spending the entire day without social contact rose by 7 percentage points — a relative increase of 83%. On average, 84% of remote workers spend their workday completely alone.
The study estimates that the rise of remote work explains about one-third of the overall increase in isolation and mental distress during that period.
It’s not that people hate their work. On the contrary: remote workers often report higher engagement. It’s that work stopped being, automatically, a place where you cross paths with someone.
What was lost wasn’t the office. It was the social infrastructure.
Before, the workplace put you near other people without you having to “do networking.” A greeting in the kitchen, a hallway conversation, the background noise of people doing the same thing as you. It wasn’t deep, but it was constant. That low-friction contact disappeared for many.
For digital nomads and remote workers arriving in a new city (or living alone in their own), the void feels stronger. You can be surrounded by full cafés and still not exchange a word with anyone. Nomad connections often stay surface-level: you cross paths once and never see that person again.
The freedom to choose where to work didn’t come with a new way of finding others.
The environment doesn’t only affect your focus. It also affects whether you feel alone.
Environmental science already tells us that noise, density, and vibe change how you work. Now we also see that the total absence of other humans has a measurable cost on well-being.
Working from home all day is not the same as working in a space where there are people around, even if you don’t talk to them. Ambient presence — knowing there are other people in the same place, with similar purposes — reduces the feeling of isolation without requiring a forced conversation.
In cities like Medellín, where many remote workers and nomads move between Laureles, El Poblado, and local cafés, that presence exists. The problem is that it isn’t visible or connected to what you actually need that day.
What you can do today (without “going to a generic meetup”)
It’s not about forcing socialization. It’s about intentionally rebuilding some of that infrastructure that was lost:
- 01
Choose spaces with real people, not just Wi-Fi. A café or coworking where there are other remote workers gives you ambient presence even if you don’t talk. It’s the modern equivalent of “office noise.”
- 02
Seek repetition, not one-off events. Deep connections need accumulated hours. Returning to the same place, at the same time, with the same kind of people, helps more than a loose meetup.
- 03
Connect with locals, not just other nomads. Friendships between nomads have an expiration date. Local ones don’t.
- 04
Signal your intention. Sometimes all that’s missing is permission for the conversation to happen. Knowing someone else is there for focus, for creating, or simply not to be alone changes the dynamic.
The study doesn’t say we should go back to the office. It says freedom alone isn’t enough. We need new ways of being near others while we do our work.
The city already has the spaces. What’s missing is the layer that connects them with people.
In Medellín and in any city, there are cafés, rooftops, and third spaces full of people working like you. The difference between “being alone in a pretty place” and “feeling part of something” is knowing who else is there and why.
That’s what Coffi seeks: not another productivity app, but the infrastructure that helps you choose the right space according to your context — and find the people who share that moment, without forcing anything.
The freedom to work from wherever you want doesn’t have to mean doing it alone.
Be where you thrive.