Remote work erodes in-person social and professional interaction skills

I swear the “alignment session” is the worst format for this, nonstop eye contact, forced laughter, and everyone watching for “engagement.” No wonder your face went rogue. If they drag you back again, treat it like a work trip: schedule decompression time, step outside between blocks, and give yourself permission to be quiet. You don’t owe anyone a perfect performance.

The problem isn’t working remote, the problem is your non-work life. Work is a necessary evil because I am shallow: I can’t be cold and I can’t be hungry. So I work. But I have always left work to do something else. Sometimes with people and sometimes not, but nonetheless my social skills are not honed at work. My bullshit skills are honed at work, and I am so glad nowadays I only have to use that skill from the other side of a Teams call. Find **your** life to exercise and regain your social skills.

Your post is missing some important information regarding your regular life, do you interact with human beings after you’ve shut your laptop down? Do you go out for drinks or coffee or take group exercise classes or walk with a group of friends in the neighborhood? I just started working remotely and I truly appreciate your post because it’s a reminder to me to make sure and get out and have social interactions every single day. Unfortunately where I am it’s winter and it’s been a terrible winter but it it’s time to get out there and be amongst other folks

Is it possible that you are neurodivergent and that you have stopped masking? I worked remotely for 8 yrs and then had to go to headquarters for a team event. I didn’t realize how uncomfortable I had always been in a room with a lot of people. I had to keep stimming.

When I got in your situation in 2022 I had been doing remote since 2022 and I ended up quitting remote to go work on site on a lesser salary. I later realizes that going to a gym daily, going to a co-working space could've saved my remote job and thousands of dollars that I lost because of quitting.

I am going though this as we speak. I was informed yesterday that I needed to come in today for some system testing after years of being remote. My anxiety and nerves have been on 10 since the Teams message. I slept horribly last night. I’m up earlier than I should and over preparing (and probably over thinking) about how my day is going to go.

As a neurodivergent person, I think I forgot how to mask during covid. And realized just how exhausting masking is.

One thing that remote work changes is that you stop performing socially all day. In office there is constant layer of small talk, eye contact, reactions, meetings, - you're basically "on stage" for hours. After years of working quietly and focusing on actual tasks, suddenly going back to that level of social performance can feel overwhelming. It's less about losing social skills and more about losing tolerance for that constant background interaction.