For months we've been told to keep our distance from others.

Whether that meant being totally alone or limiting who we interact with,

for most of us we've been less social than we were before this pandemic.

It's arguably one of the worst parts about this virus.

We can't interact with our friends and some family as freely as we once did.

I get to see some of my colleagues at CNN when I need to be in the studio

and at the hospital when I'm performing operations.

But that's pretty much it.

These days most of my social interaction is with the people I live with,

my wife and my kids.

I love having this extra time with them.

But this kind of social isolation for all of us can lead to loneliness

and can have serious impacts on our mental health.

But as I recently learned, there are also some less well-known side effects of isolation as well.

Research suggests that our social skills may be taking a hit.

Without regular practice, our ability to read social cues

and accurately interpret body language can start to dull.

You could even say, we're all becoming a little bit socially awkward.

So how and why does this happen?

On today's episode, I sit down with Stephanie Cassiopo.

She's director of the Brain Dynamics Laboratory at the University of Chicago.

I really wanted to understand what was social isolation doing to our brains.

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