To think that life just hasn’t been the same ever since covid

We can learn from it.

I agree. Most people have far less disposable income these days, so not doing as much enjoyable stuff as they used to. It’s wearing on the spirit.

Cost of living
War in Ukraine and Gaza
Threat of AI
Trump

I think this idea of a "pre war period" is really starting to permeate through, especially if you watch/read/listen to a lot of news and current affairs. A huge amount of uncertainty and instability, alongside difficult financial times for most people.

I feel like lockdown is a distant memory in my personal life, but in my working life, there has definitely been a shift that hasn’t left.

I’m a teacher and the way kids (and most of us really) use technology really changed over lockdown…and that hasn’t gone back to normal. There’s a huge rise in problems with attention, anxieties, enjoyment in non-digital activities (sport, crafts, writing, etc), and the way they engage with one another. At the risk of sounding like a tin hat wearer, I honestly believe that I can walk into a room of 10 year olds and point out the ones who have too much screen time within five minutes of observation.

Things definitely haven’t been the same. I feel more sad because life was so peaceful during that first lockdown, and people were generally nicer and more compassionate. It was like a taste of what “could be”, and now we’re expected to go back to normal and forget the good times. Everything feels shittier in comparison.

I found the Covid era quite easy (which I am very grateful for) but I've noticed people are far less sociable , wait times are so much longer for everything and everything feels a little bleaker since then.

I think lockdown marked a real change in how people view and trust governments so I feel like there is maybe a general feeling if distrust in government, I see a huge amount of posts on social media calling out politicians from every party. Before COVID I think there was a level of respect for government, i think that since COVID and party gate and watching how government handled it a lot of people have just lost that respect for them.

So maybe people just aren't happy because we don't trust our government, don't know what changes they'll bring in, don't know if they would protect us during crisis.

Yanbu mcdonalds took away the breakfast bagel and never brought it back😭😭

For me, Covid highlighted that life is too short so I care less about my job since Covid and more about simpler things.

I think the shift in how things feel are not just Covid related. People are more openly racist, less tolerant of others and there are some seriously scary things going on politically at the moment.

Some things are worse though - behaviour in schools has taken a serious dive.

I don’t feel any different than I did pre covid. If anything i’m more grateful for normality and the fact I can go out and do things. I found lockdown incredibly isolating.

I agree with op, it's changed, for the worse, more miserable, self centred. Bad.

I feel like that time made me more appreciate of what we all have now.

Since the Covid vaccine…. I’ve lost my hair, my skin is darker and my joints are destroyed

the vaccine has destroyed my life

That's because you are a few years older :-). Lockdown has been over for ages now, it's in the past. You'll be happy again, don't worry.

I was thinking watching some programmes that were made during look down, all the 3 mitre distance and touching elbows and to be honest it gives me the creeps thinking back to that time.
It still annoys me when people stand close to you as covid is still about but I'm so glad we are back to normal. It was a horrible time.

I think it is more COL related.

'Nobody'?! Actually, I'm doing loads more now than I was before! There seem to be plenty of people out and about. Yesterday, I tried to book tickets for two concerts in April and they were both sold out.

Life is NEVER 'the same'! COVID changed things, different governments change things, war changes things, the weather changes things, we get older... Sometimes the changes are for the better. I think it's unreasonable to say people seemed happier. That's just normal but misleading nostalgia.

I have a similar situation (Eastern European family too) and agree re: stagnation compared to where we visit abroad where you see new developments and progress, more disposable income etc. I believe it's a direct result of Brexit though with a decade of underfunding of infrastructure, education, health rather than Covid which just speeded it all up.

Covid
Brexit
Successively bad governments (in the UK and Scotland)
Rise of parties like the AfD
Narcissists in power
Men trying to erase women's rights
Immigration issues (not allowed to even discuss without being calked racist)
Realisation of how much we've destroyed this planet
Underinvestment in schools, health, housing
Ageing population and the pension burden (no you've most likely not 'paid your dues') and young folk struggling to survive

Need I go on?

I think it's so many things, COL among them. One thing I would add though is, I have depression and GAD and have since my late teens. It will never be gone for good. One thing I've always noticed is that even when I'm not in a depressed state, in between times, it's very easy to keep on living like a depressed person. Self-protective, saying no to things a lot, being very careful of what I do, very solitary.

Covid forced many of us to live "like depressed people" for a while (generalisation I know but maybe has some merit.) To me it was not very difficult, aside from missing my family (we were over the border in Scotland from them and not supposed to cross, and they were in a Northern English city that basically never came out of lockdown for long) because I was so used to living that way.

For some people I feel like it may have acted like a trauma like depression does, pushing them (subtly) into mental patterns from which it's really hard to emerge.

Like many people, I saw lockdown as a chance to completely reset. Since lockdown I have changed careers, moved to a different country and lost a lot of weight and now really take care of myself. I have honestly never been happier.

Well with the cost of living having doubled for some and wages the same I absolutely feel it is showing everyone’s worst sides if you ask me.
That and the fact that we have lost hope in those running the country. Not knowing who to vote for because they are all just as bad. No faith in getting treatment if you are sick, no help if you need the police etc. The things which made the country great aren’t so great anymore.
I also agree that people seem to socialise less. Everything is online post-covid. Everything needs to be booked etc.

The two absolute lunatics running America (the elected one and the unelected one) are pretty fucking scary too.

I feel different now.

I think our experiences of lockdown were so diverse. For some people it was a lovely break and a welcome chance to slow down, for others it was genuinely traumatic, and for many it was somewhere in between. As someone whose experience was towards the bad end of that (though definitely not the worst) I find it jarring and painful when others talk about that time positively. Not that I wish them ill, just that I can’t make sense of the disconnect. It’s a bit like how gaslighting makes you doubt your own memory and reality.

The current cost of living crisis is partly due to the long term economic effects of covid. Plus brexit. And increasing inequality. And climate related pressures. The general shift to the right was happening already but I suspect was exacerbated by economic stuff and the sense of the world being fundamentally unsafe, especially other people being a major source of danger, which was such a key message of the pandemic.

It does appear to me that society is more individualist than ever, somehow harsher, more lonely. Who knows how much of that is covid related? What I can say for sure is that I was deeply affected in ways that have not yet worked themselves out and possibly never will. In addition, my ability to concentrate and my intelligence have remained diminished since infection and lockdown (both, I think, are to blame), and my anxiety is higher. Even as we try to go back to our old patterns, the ripples are definitely still there.