Dwelling in a Digital Age: Biological Perspectives

The lockdowns and restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic required a radical reconceptualisation of our dwellings, which also became our places of employment. The difficulties that this entailed took many by surprise. Though those who had the ‘luxury’ of being able to work from home are mostly knowledge workers, many of whose everyday tasks reside in the digital realm, lockdowns made us appreciate with greater clarity that these tasks are still being carried out by embodied beings living in physical space, and reflect on the broader meaning of dwelling. In my essay, I describe a context for understanding some aspects of dwelling through the lens of cognitive neuroscience and environmental psychology. I will relate aspects of my own history and my relationship to my own dwelling spaces to what is known scientifically of our understanding and attachment to home. I will relate some recent findings from my lab and others suggesting that the shape and atmosphere of a physical space, including those in which we dwell, exert a profound effect on productivity, mood and stress.