What Will The Future Look Like Post-Quarantine

May 29, 2020


I keep wondering what the effects of this time of quarantine and social distancing is going to have on us and subsequent generations. In 20 years what will be be doing that we will look at it and say "This is because of Covid-19". There will most certainly be a lot of trauma from all of this (the cause of trauma doesn't have to be something severe like an attack or car crash...it's a lasting emotional response that will come from living through this time in history).

I think about the Depression Era and how it caused some people to began hoarding (not in the way we define it now) because they needed to keep everything out of necessity "just in case". You never knew when you'd be able to get something again, or if you'd ever have the money to purchase it again. My GG had so many items that a lot of people would deem unnecessary that he kept with the intention of using again, or because he thought there might be another use for them later (he still had butcher paper from when he purchased meat). In my family, we often use the term "pack rat".

This is a mindset that was most definitely passed on (my Grammie grew up during The Depression so she does this, too) and continues to this day. My mom keeps things "just in case" and I keep things "just in case" because you never know when you might need a piece of information from People's 200 Greatest Pop Culture Icons, or when that little piece of string wrapped around a package that you ordered from a little shop eight years ago might come in handy.

These are the kinds of things that I am curious about. I wonder what memories and stories people, especially children, will tell that are connected to this time. How long will people continue to wear masks? Will there be people that have developed a fear of using public washrooms? Will the barriers between you and the cashiers stay there? Will children develop severe mysophobia, and will the numbers for anxiety skyrocket? 

Only time will answer these questions, but my hope is that solutions and support will be provided. We know so much more about mental health now than was known in the 1930s. What ripple effects  from this time are you curious about?


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