Okay, I’m just going to come out and say it. It can be lonely being an academic. Academics spend a lot of time on independent tasks that are done alone, such as researching, writing, editing, and grading. If you’re not careful, you can spend too much time on your own, and it will curtail your productivity.
This loneliness can intensify in the summer months. Those quieter months you’ve been longing for are here — but you sit in the library or the office and realize that it’s almost too quiet. You may feel like you have no one to bounce ideas off of and that no one cares about your work.
Some of you might be saying, “But I’m surrounded by people!” Or, “I try to work at home, and my family/friends keep trying to get me to spend time with them.” Or, “I work at my office but other people keep coming in and interrupting me.”
You can read the rest of the article at:
http://gblog2.academicladder.com/2013/06/the-lonely-academic.html
