Samuel Oliphant - Post-Pandemic Yearning

Sam Oliphant reports once again on life with Corona. In his report "Post-Pandemic Yearning", Sam conducted a social media-based survey, asking people what they were most looking forward to as the pandemic response quarantine rules begin to be lifted.

Dreams After Quarantine

Europe. During the Coronavirus outbreak, people have been missing out on everyday activities and interactions. 49 people filled out an online questionnaire*, where they answered questions regarding what they would like to do in the future, what they are missing, and finally what they are doing to entertain themselves. Ages of people who answered the questionnaire ranged from 17-75 years old.

Naturally people have been missing activities which they are so often used to. 32.6% of the responses were to do with missing social interaction with friends, which corresponded more with the younger population. In addition, 14.3% of the answers explicitly mentioned the lack of freedom which people have during the pandemic with the Social Distancing regulations being put in place. Other major responses were about traveling and meeting family, who have not been visited for a long period of time. One answer which was different to the rest, was the missing of live sport. Social Distancing regulations require live sporting events to be cancelled as they may be a hotspot for Coronavirus transmission.

Since there has been a shortage in activities to do outside our local areas, the public are having to become creative and resourceful to pass the time. Many responses stated that people had either been working out and running. In a period where Coronavirus can lead to people being extremely unwell or in some cases leading to death, many of the respondents indicated they are taking advantage of this lockdown period by taking up activities that improve their overall fitness and lifestyle. A number of respondents have enrolled on online courses to learn a variety of new skills, with online language courses being very popular amongst the respondents. In this forever changing world, we are amongst a technological era, where we are trying to steer children away from their phones, laptops and gaming consoles. However, as children and young adults are so disconnected from friends and family, this has become a form of communication, and there was a large portion of younger people who responded with this answer.

Once restrictions in Europe are lifted, many responses looked at trying to socially interact with family and friends once again. Many people hope to visit parents in other countries to catch up and check up on them. Furthermore, the mature group of people who responded wanted to get back to shopping, either for clothes or furniture, as it's something which was not seen as essential when the restrictions were put in place. One can draw from those responses citing a desire for the highstreet to reopen as an indication that despite alternative online options to shop, people miss the experience and interaction of visiting shops. A large portion of responses also saw travel as something which was missed, and what people would like to do more of when the restrictions start to be loosened.

*55 respondents from a survey sent to 100 people

Source: ISB WhatsApp chats (pupils and parents)