How are Humans Impacted by Social Distancing?

 Natalie Briscoe

Ms. Wombold

Literature and Composition 12

5 November 2020

How are Humans Impacted by Social Distancing?

Social distancing impacts humans in different ways, but it causes more harm than good. When the world moved online, there were negative properties that followed. Part of the negative properties followed into the increase in mental health problems but the overall cause in the rise was directed towards the increasing length of quarantine. Because of the extended length of quarantine and social distancing caused, there was a large drop in the employment of workers, there was a large drop in the employment of workers, thus having heavily impacting the economy. This is because humans are made to be social.

Humans are a social species; they thrive off of social connections, so when put into a situation that removes the social aspects there are after-effects to their lifestyle. In history, there has been a continuation of civilizations built based on collective behavior. Civilizations have been using social aspects to past down their culture and continue their empires as they receive different challenges that could have destroyed or benefited their reign. The appearance of this sociocultural ideal started around 10,000 years ago and has slowly been pushed into a different direction from the adaptation of new ways that civilizations should use to benefit the empire to survive longer (Klüver).  As the sociocultural ideals showed to be beneficial to the continuation of society, it allowed the ability of social commutations and cultural characteristics from society to last. But it was only based on the continuation of having a social community rather than an isolated one that had no connections with each other.  

Now moving into the 21st century, the idea of having a social community is how the world can learn, spread information, and explore different lifestyles at a faster rate than ever before. But because of this, there is a harsher impact when the communication is cut off. In 2020 there was a development that threw the year off a “normal” track. This would be known as COVID-19, a virus that led to pandemic causing countries to go into lockdown to decrease the number of cases because of the rising death toll. With 46.9 million cases worldwide, the death total is 1.21 million, but looking into a specific country, the United States of America is at 9.38 million cases and 231 thousand deaths (The New York Times). In Washington, a state in America, the lockdown included schools closing back in March of 2020. Since there has been a continuation of the quarantine because there is no vaccine available, schools have remained closed for the foreseeable future. Because of the lockdown, there have been guidelines that the government imposed to make sure that the virus would be contained. The most impactful of the guidelines was the social distancing enforcements, which is the opposite of what society is made to have. 

The social distancing guidelines enforced a new standard in different parts of America, some parts were willing to listen to what the government was imposing and others were against the ruling. They stated that it was against their human rights to social distance or wear a mask, thus not stopping the airborne spread of the virus in which they were risking their own lives as well as the lives of others. To understand the total impact of social distancing on humans as a whole, there will be a look into the variety of ways communities, especially in America, were affected concerning online, mental health, and economy. 

During what would be known as a “normal” year, there would be a push to have children off of the internet and into a social activity or an in-person environment, but with social distancing in place, there is no social activity that does not participate by being online or in a strict social distancing environment. In response, there has now been a push for children to move to an online-based day with online schooling having been put in place in states like Washington, where the majority of schools are participating in the online format. To be stated, online schooling has not been a new concept but it is a new standard for all schooling rather than the in-person standard that was normalized. 

With the schooling being moved online, there is a new understanding of what online means for the children and teachers participating because of the 6-hour schooling along with the homework that needs to be turned in online. This moves from less screen time to mandatory screen time for the better part of a day. Being online does have its negative impacts, as there are studies that have shown how being on the internet for a long period impacts the brain and the functions that it can process. It also has a connection to the increase in cyberbullying and the harmful content that would be able to degrade a person’s mental health as the long term exposure to it continues to affect how a human would think about the world that they are in. The impacts of using the internet itself also include skills degrading from the lack of use because there is a different skill set needed for online then there is for in-person. Having in-person interactions is a safer way to hone in on the skills that would be beneficial to the education of someone, for example, studying online versus in person is different from the materials that are taken into consideration (Carr). But there are good impacts of moving online because of the social distancing being put in place, it does give a better connection to families and friends that live far away and would not be able to see regularly, along with the decrease in in-person bullying and other in-person threats that would come from being at school (NICM Health Research Institute, Western Sydney University). 

Mental health is just as important as physical health as it has contributions to how someone works in their life. During the beginning of the pandemic, seen from a government study, there was an increase in anxiety disorder/depressive disorder (Centers for Disease Control and Protection). This is stated that is from the impact of COVID-19 and the effects that during the pandemic had been taking a toll on the participants of the survey. With the rise in tensions and the lack of community support or even group support, there was a harder time for citizens dealing with the pandemic. This is caused by the impact of social distancing and having no enough social contact due to the rules that are put in place. Along with just the overall impact of social distancing, the aspect of online, which was explained earlier, does have an impact on mental health. Reviewed by a doctor, patients would be coming in with an increase in their anxiety because of having too much time exposed to the internet. In other studies, there have been proven results that being online causes depression and dependency for a variety of people (Piedmont Healthcare). It is hard to control the use of technology before the pandemic and social distancing, but because technology is the key way to stay connected there is no possibility that people have a different way to communicate with people that are far away from them. The effect that the internet being used more because of social distancing makes a harmful environment and, as stated, can lead to an increase in anxiety. 

The economy is affected by social distancing. During the experience of the lockdown, there was an increase in the number of unemployed people with an increase from only 1 million to 12.6 million as companies had to lay off their employees to pay for the rent or even their own personal expenses (Bureau of Labor Statistics). As well as the loss of jobs nationwide in America, there are still large amounts of businesses that if continued to be closed could ruin the industry with the lack of jobs available for personnel to take on. This is especially the case in Washington, with businesses such as cultural and art groups having still 70% closed because of the current situation and social distancing efforts (KUOW Staff). This causes a lack of representation and a decrease in workers because the low amount of work available has them turning to different industries to make money, as money is something that keeps food on the table and a roof over people’s heads. The decrease in jobs in the economy had a massive disadvantage to people of color as they were affected because of the way the American system is set up. Blacks, Hispanic, and Native communities were hit the hardest because of jobs, public transit, and even with COVID-19 itself. Because of social distancing, it made it harder for people in the groups listed to go to work because they would be using a system that had more of a chance of getting COVID-19 than someone who had their own car. It caused a large number of deaths in those communities because of the lack of protection and resources that other communities, such as white ones, would be able to get (Bauer, Broady, and Edelberg).

Society was put on a hold for the pandemic. With the lockdown, everything turned into a bare area because there was a lack of humans that would normally be busy moving and going through a normal day’s work. Just by looking at photos from New York Times Square, there was an unsettling difference from one morning during lockdown to a morning on a pre-COVID-19 day. Since society was built by humans to heed to what the supposed collective would need to benefit from, the need for a community is what drives the production in America. There is the need for cooperation because it can bypass the idea of survival of the fittest which can be seen at some part in American society but the overall drive of the community has a greater outcome (Lipton). The teamwork that is taken from the drive of community is healthier for the participants as well as the overall group. With different studies proving that there are benefits, for example, in a group, there is a shared responsibility and the ability to have a network on what an idea can generate from. But if only participating as a single person there is more stress-induced work as well as longer hours to complete the tasks that are given. A person is then seen to be happier and grow more as an individual even in a group setting. This explains the reason for the high level of social aspects that humans take on, given that they try for the improvement and survival of the species (Middleton).  

            Humans were not made to socially distance, the society that was constructed was meant for in-person interaction and the connection of the community rather than the lack that is seen from being online and not present. Social distancing impacts online efforts, mental health, and the economy which all play a role in the community that humans partake in. The effects that are played out from the social distancing caused more harm than good for human society, although there are some positive effects on the overall view on what comes from social distancing is negative.

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