How is COVID-19 impacting individuality?
A couple of days ago, on a walk, the Albrecht Family was having a discussion about how the coronavirus is going to change the world in the future. Ava brought up and interesting question:
Will the coronavirus improve individuality?
Daughter Says:
COVID-19 is making us more individual, there’s no doubt about it, especially for kids. Almost everyone under the age of 18 is staying at home for the rest of the school year, and then the 3 months of summer break after that. That’s 6 months, half of the entire year, that we are not spending crammed together with a variety of people.
This is the time that people, especially people my age, are finding themselves. The time people are learning how to play an instrument, a new sport, or other new hobbies they never would’ve known otherwise. They’re becoming the most genuine version of themselves because there’s less background noise telling them “That’s not cool” or “That’s stupid.”
There’s no peer pressure because there’s no peers! People are becoming comfortable with themselves, and who they are. When I go back to school in the fall, it wouldn’t surprise me at all if most people are more themselves than ever.
Dad Says:
During the corona-cootie era we have been greatly isolated from others. Which has provided time for the voices in our own heads to grow stronger and louder, and perhaps start yodeling. We have all had time to explore our own interests and tastes. This has influenced the entertainment we watch, the foods we eat and even the clothes we choose to wear when we don’t leave the house. You are still wearing clothes right?
We have been able to fill our free time with our own self-directed activities. And we have been able to find the things that we like most. In fact, if you haven’t spent significant time on a personal interest over the past 6 weeks you are wasting this time.
The COVID19-inspired isolation should create a greater sense of individually. But I think it will create a more interesting and inspiring collective once we are reunited (and it feels so good). Because a stronger sense of self is good for us as a whole.
You Says:
What do you think? Everyone should have an opinion on individuality. Will it be different as a result of the coronavirus isolation? And if so, how so?
Originally published at http://dadsaysdaughtersays.com on April 25, 2020.