Written by Xiao, 2021 Cohort
Apart from many discussions of healthcare, politics, and medical science elicited by the pandemic, today, we focus on society’s reaction under such circumstances.
Crisis constantly stimulates people to change. From a social perspective, our thinking, behaviour and relationships will develop new ways to balance emotion. We may create these unconsciously or intentionally, and some can be a permanent part of our lives. Thus our perceptions and lives will be reshaped. So does our love/dating life.
It is such a great challenge to maintain our relationships without seeing and touching each other. But we may never imagine that people are getting used to virtual dating for maintaining their intimate relationship for a society taking face-to-face dating for granted. Slow dating can be a trend lasting to the end of pandemic. After all, these new rituals are just temporary solutions or will gradually impact the modern hookup culture in the future.
From the perspective of evolution, people always develop their emotions and reproduce through necessary physical contact, and the establishment of all kinds of relationships is knit by complicated verbal and non-verbal communication, which is a part of our social structure. So what will happen in the future when we lose these interactions? It is worth continuing to observe this phenomenon?
Anyway, this pandemic indeed has a significant influence on our love/dating life. Even if we get our freedom again one day, we may still keep estranged from other people leading to the hesitation of a hug or a handshake. But the virus will stop vexing us soon, no matter how dramatically it changes in the future, I hope you stay safe, healthy, and happy at present.