How Shall this Pandemic Alter Society?
The Blind Eternities forum
Posted on Oct. 27, 2020, 8:28 p.m. by DemonDragonJ
There is no question that this pandemic has already caused significant societal upheavals, and shall continue to do so, even after it ends, so I wish to discuss what some of those changes are or may be.
First, I shall begin by mentioning changes that I hope are only temporary:
I really hope that mandatory mask wearing, plastic barriers between customers and servers in public places, one-way lanes in stores, limited capacities for any public venue, and social distancing eventually (note that I said “eventually,” not “immediately”) disappear after a vaccine has been developed and rates of infection decrease. I also really hope that the practice of shaking hands regains popularity, since it is such a deeply ingrained practice in society, and I shall actively work toward reviving it.
Now, I shall mention changes that I hope are permanent.
I hope that this pandemic causes people to start taking cleanliness, hygiene, and sanitation seriously, such as by everyone wash their hands on a regular basis, having adequate ventilation in public spaces, and having surfaces cleaned multiple times per day. I also hope that governments reallocate money that would normally be spent on military expenses to health and medicine, so that society will actually be prepared for future outbreaks. The fact that this pandemic has even occurred, at all, is evidence of how woefully unprepared the world was for a plague, so I hope that the world shall be prepared in the future.
What does everyone else say about this? How shall society be altered by this pandemic?
King_marchesa says... #3
I think that people will take sanitation more seriously. Also, I think that people will start wearing masks on a daily basis just for health reasons. I think that the post traumatic stress from the pandemic might be a problem. One example of this stress manifesting is through compulsive cleanliness habits, like washing your hands 5 times in a row. That is just one thing that I can think of in terms of long lasting impacts. But other than that I think that the shock of the pandemic will wear off in about a year. I do think that in terms of government, we will hopefully implement certain policies that will help with future pandemics. All in all, I think that there will be a few long lasting impacts but most of it will wear off in a year or so.
October 27, 2020 8:45 p.m.
Omniscience_is_life says... #4
I myself am not planning on going "back to normal" even after the vaccine is developed, at lease for a short while. It's just hard to believe anything made in such haste will be ideal, nor do I imagine everyone will take said vaccine... so I'm going to take renormalization slow.
It is quite a drag to distance/mask up, but the main issue is the inability to gather in someone's kitchen or an LGS for a game of magic! My interest in the game has increased massively over the course of the pandemic, and I hardly ever get to play over spelltable :/
One lasting effect I believe we will see is that people might be hyperaware of anyone with any sort of respiratory affliction, even a common cold. We might just societally force those people to do a mini-quarantine, to keep everyone safe.
Just speculation, postulation and conjecture, don't listen to me too seriously ;)
October 27, 2020 9:53 p.m.
StasisAbuser says... #5
Totally agree with your permanent and temporary changes, although I'd be cool with no more handshakes as an introvert lol.
One other thing I really hope becomes more prominent is more leniency with sick days at work. I grew up on having to "tough it out" when I had a cold and go to school and only stay home if I had something serious like pneumonia, mono, etc. Hopefully this pandemic shines a light on that.
I feel you on your last sentence regarding preparedness. Here's to hoping we never have to do a hard economic shutdown again.
October 27, 2020 10:04 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #6
Given that Halloween this year shall be very subdued, will Halloween of next year be closer to what most people regard as "normal," I hope?
October 27, 2020 10:26 p.m.
I would hope that there is a collective shift toward the importance of reacting quickly the next time we see a highly contagious pandemic--and there will be a next time; with habitats shrinking due to human incursion and climate change, the chances of an animal virus jumping to humanity is only going to increase.
We saw this shift in the collective conscience with SARS--one of the reasons east Asian countries reacted so well to this pandemic is they knew you had to mask up, stay distanced, contract trace, and lock down immediately and fully, as that will stop the spread early and prevent both deaths and long-term economic disaster. They also transitioned to mask-based societies, where masks are fairly commonplace in public places, even when there is not a pandemic.
Most of the Western world seems to be learning their lessons, with one significant, disastrous exception. I would love to think a pandemic--something so horrific, we as a society collectively decided to replace one of the biblical Four Horsemen with Pestilence--would be sufficient to change the rampant anti-science, anti-medicine sentiment that has taken hold in the United States. Instead, it has only served to show those fools will stand by their ignorance and drag everyone else into death with them.
I think another large change we might see is a shift away from office space to individuals working from home. Office space is expensive and one of the largest contributors to company overhead. The pandemic has shown a number of traditionally in-office careers can be done from the house, which could save companies a significant amount of money. There will be a cost-benefit analysis, of course, since working from home also tends to cause lower productivity, but I am sure the possibility will at least be explored and applied in some situations.
October 28, 2020 2:41 a.m.
EleshNornsFs says... #8
Honestly, I hope masks stay. Realistically, it wouldn't make much difference in my area, since most of the locals are extremely anti-mask (I've had 2 people at work literally threaten to kill me over it), but I intend to keep wearing mine. I have found that I use it almost like a security blanket. It is warm and soft and helps keep me safe, so I suppose it is only natural that my brain tries to cling to it.
October 28, 2020 7:18 a.m.
GhostChieftain says... #9
I for one will absolutely start wearing a mask whenever I am sick. Just as well not spread anything if I can help it.
October 28, 2020 9:09 a.m.
grumbledore says... #10
hate to be the nihilist, but i don’t think there will be any long term societal changes. at least not in ‘murica. my reasoning is look at the spanish flu - mask wearing was required but people fought against it. all this time later, the exact same thing is happening, except with more virulence. people are stupid.
October 28, 2020 11:41 a.m.
grumbledore says... #11
Caerwyn - i was just reading that a number of bay area tech companies are moving to permanent work at home, which is awesome. i’ve been working at home for my company for the last 10 years, which pretty meant no changes this year other than no corporate travel. it has been interesting though watching everyone go through the same troubles that work at home people deal with, like scheduling, zoom meetings (or related tech; zoom blows), and the occasional lack of pants (or meeting-in-a-bathroom mishap)
October 28, 2020 11:44 a.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #13
grumbledore, as far as I am aware, the current pandemic, while definitely a very serious matter, has not had as high of a death toll as the Spanish flu (which did not originate in Spain, from what I have read), since medicine has advanced greatly in the century that has passed.
Caerwyn, I really do hope that this pandemic demonstrates how foolish it is to oppose vaccines and other forms of proven science. Also, for the past several months, I have been dividing my time working between the office and my home, but my managers have been requiring me and my workers to work in the office more often than at home, despite the fact that our office is almost dead silent.
October 28, 2020 4:56 p.m.
VampDemigod says... #14
I hope mask-wearing stays socially acceptable, I really want an excuse to wear my cool mask, plus it’ll protect me during flu season.
I also don’t think the handshake needs to come back. Idk about anyone else, but I haven’t been in need of a way to show that I don’t have a sword on me recently. (That’s the origin of the handshake of anyone’s unaware).
It also is potentially quite unsanitary. I don’t know if you washed your hands, so if we shake hands before a game, I can’t really run off to a restroom. If we shake after the game, it’s unsanitary even if you did wash your hands before the game, unless the table was sanitized before the game, and you’ve never touched your cards without washing your hands first. It really is unnecessary and highly likely to be unsanitary.
That said, if handshakes do come back, I’ll still probably shake.
Not trying to say “you’re wrong, I’m right”, just putting in my 2 cents.
November 2, 2020 8:51 a.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #15
VampDemigod, I did know that that is the origin of handshaking, and clinking glasses is a sign of trust, that each person trusts the other person to not poison the other, but I like shaking hands, not because I wish to crush the other person's hand, but because having a strong handshake has always been a sign of confidence and assertiveness.
abby315 says... #2
I pretty much agree with your hopes. I do hope that mask-wearing remains a polite thing to do during flu season. I know I'll be wearing one, in part because the flu is awful and in part because it gets cold where I live and I've found that masks are actually a nice layer of protection from the cold. I don't care if not everyone does it, but I'd like for it to be a normalized thing and not something that remains stigmatized by COVID.
October 27, 2020 8:36 p.m.