Have you started to look at certain things that you did before the pandemic?
Do you think that certain behaviors or traditions may change when the pandemic is over?
The reality is that the pandemic has changed so much of what we do, and that’s what we’re talking about today.
Certain trends and behaviors have changed for now, and we will look at what those are, and if they are changed for good as this is a relevant topic during these times.
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Taking A Long Hard Look At Things We Did In The Past
There are so many things that we did before the pandemic, that we may tend to change up now.
If you think about the things that you did before the pandemic, there are likely rituals or traditions or even habits that you may need to change.
We found a fascinating article in the NY Times that talks about this very thing.
“France’s Latest Covid Measure: Letting Workers Eat at Their Desks” By Roger Cohen Published Feb. 7, 2021 Updated Feb. 22, 2021
Apparently, in France, people used to actually not be allowed to eat lunch at their desks.
This was a rule and everyone followed it because it was there for a reason.
Now this is all changing because of the pandemic, and so it’s something that many businesses are starting to think through.
The idea was that you have to separate life and work, as this is part of the culture.
So lunch is important for people to enjoy and to clear their head before returning to work.
If you eat lunch at your desk, you are combining the two and it’s not a good thing.
So this idea was very based in the culture, and focused on what worked for the people of France.
The article talks about other cultural changes in France, such as the curfew which was at 6pm so people couldn’t shop late.
They say in the article that France is becoming more like the US.
So this pandemic has caused us to really look closely at the things that we do, and potentially change things up as necessary.
What May Change Moving Forward?
So you start to think about the things that may change as we start to adjust to a new normal.
Do you think this is a good or bad thing?
We thought it would be interesting to go through some of the areas in our culture that may change due to the pandemic.
We can do more than one episode, but let’s start with this—we’ll go over our predictions so that you can see what we think!
These are the things that we at AEE can see going away or changing significantly because of the pandemic and the way that we do things now.
- Shaking hands: Will this come back? The idea is that nobody wants to exchange touch with somebody that they barely know. This isn’t sanitary and can lead to spreading germs, and so we may do away with such a behavior. How about hugging? Any casual physical touching? This is a huge part of our culture. Jessica thinks shaking hands will come back in a year or two. What do you think about these things that involve touch?
- Shopping: It used to be that for the most part you walked into a store, shopped for, and then bought the things that you needed. Many people started going with curbside pick up or delivery for their shopping needs during the pandemic. Will shopping trends continue as they are or return back to normal? Jessica thinks people will continue to order groceries because it is so easy. What do you think about this? What about clothes?
- Food sharing: Aubrey brought up a great one with this, though it may be very cultural. She said that she “used to split desserts with friends and try each others’ meals or drinks. Not anymore! Not sure that will come back.” This is really interesting, and it makes you wonder if it will happen again or never come back. Though you probably did this and never thought twice about it before, sharing food may very well be something that goes away in the future.
- Public restrooms: This is more about the way that they are set up or used. Aubrey said you might see “even more of a trend toward touchless flushing; I wonder if air dryers will be replaced with paper towels because people don’t want to touch the door handle and want to use a paper towel as a buffer!” Though public restrooms aren’t going away, the setup of them or the way that we use them may differ. If possible there will likely be far less touch points and it will therefore be focused on sanitary practices.
- Libraries: Just checking out books from the library has changed throughout the pandemic. You used to be able to go in and browse for books, and then check out whatever you wanted. Aubrey said however that “right now ours you can only pick up books you’ve put on hold, and I’ve wondered if that will continue indefinitely to minimize how many people touch the books. Might push more people to read online instead.” When you think of things that happen in public or that have many different touch points, you may start to see these go away as people try to have better and more sanitary practices moving forward.
These are great conversation topics, as you can ask others how they feel about this.
The pandemic has changed so much, and these are just a few things that may forever be changed beyond this time in history.
Takeaway
The pandemic has brought about many changes, and it has caused us to look at the things that we do differently.
Though some things may not seem like a big deal, when you start to really look closely and analyze them, they can be.
Some of the things that we did before will be harder to accept and will really impact our culture, while others may not be as difficult.
These are great conversation starters because they bring up not only the pandemic but can teach us cultural differences.
All of this has caused us to look at things differently and really analyze if we need to change certain rituals that we had before.
Taking a long hard look at things and making necessary changes isn’t always a bad thing, and it can lead to positive change.
If you have any questions, please leave them below in the comments section.
We’ll get back to you as soon as we can.
