to think Covid is changing people in unusual and disturbing ways?

[tttigress]

Have you noticed Covid changing you friends? Effecting their mental health?

Couple of examples of friends who have been very vocal on social media:

Friend1:
previously: quite left wing, into animal rights.
now: sees Covid as a scam, posting stuff from right ring/conspiracy oriented sites, attended a protest where people like David Icke was in attendance, many comments about "do your own research, don't listen to the main stream media"

Friend2:
previously: quite relaxed (maybe too relaxed), bit of a stoner, bit of a drinker, life of the part, quite sociable.
now: hardly leaves the house due to Covid, thinks people should wear masks at all times - even when outside, thinks people are taking Covid nowhere near seriously enough, thinks the media is underplaying Covid, thinks doctors are underplaying Covid etc. Although they think their life is in imminent danger from Covid still smokes and drinks at home

I am am bit concerned about the mental health crisis Covid could be causing

Definitely a concern.

I think you are being a bit judgmental about friend number 2 - they may be worried about Covid but still smoking and drinking to help with their stress! People do things that don't always make sense logically, it's just how they are coping.

Everyone is reacting differently and we just all need to try and be as accepting as we can. I'd be worried about Friend number 1 though, sounds like they may be being brainwashed.

“ I do love the idea that joe blog imagine his little life so interesting that Bill Gates and co can't wait to follow his every moves”

I know, can just imagine Bill sat there going I can’t believe Susan at number 53 only changes her knickers twice a week.

They want to watch my life? Good they can have it, it’s never ending entertainment from arguing about what to have for dinner to cursing that no matter how many times I put it on, the laundry is never ending!!

The world has gone nuts.

I've suffered extreme anxiety for most of my life but it's gotten even worse. Not because I'm scared of Covid, but because everyone has become so snappy and judgemental I get nervous about even getting on a bus or going into a shop.

This pandemic has really brought out the hypocrisy in a lot of people. So much virtue signalling and judgement towards others on social media from people who I know have broken the rules many many times.

I think when/if this is ever over a lot of people won't be able to cope being around other humans anymore. Oh and I also agree with an earlier comment that said companies will continue using Covid as an excuse for poor service.

I'm just saying I can see why people think that a microchip in a person is feasible for better overall control. I can see what you are saying, Acorn, but it is odd that 'chippers' have such complete certainty in the absence of any evidence as far as I can see and no biology/physics/technological mechanism by which such a device could work in the body even theoretically.

still, Timothy is convinced.
m.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=222838542525485&id=100043980226154&set=a.208589393950400&source=48

I'm naturally an introvert and struggled with agoraphobia in the past. All of this has definitely made me reluctant to go anywhere in future. I do love travelling and don't feel the same panic symptoms in other countries like I do here. Maybe it's because I'm not in my home environment. But as for going to restaurants, cinema etc where I live, no I don't want to do that. I forced myself before, mainly to make the effort for "friends" who haven't bothered with me at all in lock down! I won't be bothering again.

So I guess if I'm being honest, it has made me more insular and selfish. I don't believe the vaccine contains a microchip or anything ridiculous like that. However, I will only get it if it becomes mandatory for air travel, entry abroad. And only then just a couple of months before I actually want to go somewhere. (I'm over 50 so could probably get it sooner). I guess it's not that I don't trust the vaccine as such, more that I don't trust the government and that makes me wary. I don't plan on going abroad until at least 2022 so plenty of time to see how vaccination has gone for others first!

Mentally I have coped with lockdown fine. In fact I've rather enjoyed it. I suspect I will struggle more with getting back to "normal".

@Zilla1

I'm just saying I can see why people think that a microchip in a person is feasible for better overall control. I can see what you are saying, Acorn, but it is odd that 'chippers' have such complete certainty in the absence of any evidence as far as I can see and no biology/physics/technological mechanism by which such a device could work in the body even theoretically.

I'm sorry if I have misunderstood you

are you saying there's no evidence of having the tech to make a microchip work?

It has brought out a slightly rebellious streak in me. I actually can't believe all the things that have been made into criminal offenses.

@AcornAutumn and that’s fair enough, considering that pharmaceutical companies are going to make a ton of money from this is one thing.

But destroying economies, trashing livelihoods and ending relationships is quite another.

We’re really not that interesting and I (maybe naively 🤷‍♀️) can’t possibly see the benefit of tracking.

It’s when you hear people say they want to track you.
That’ll be why they’re starting vaccinations with the over 80s confined to care homes, because they’re the ones we’ve really got to watch?

A friend of mine who has always been a bit anxious has become paranoid about catching Covid. One of her much-loved daughters suffered a miscarriage after years of trying to conceive, and called to see her. She has only ever met them in her garden, at a distance since lockdown. She told me her daughter stood in the garden, and said"Mum, please give me a hug, won't it be OK if we both wear a mask?" She told her daughter she couldn't risk it. When I asked her why, she said "Think about it. If I catch the virus from her, and die, she will never forgive herself, will she?" To me, that is not a normal reaction for a mother.

@NoPainNoTartine

I am absolutely flabbergasted by the lack of resilience in this country. I read similar forum and testimonies from people in other countries, usually with a real lockdown experience, not the washy version we had in the UK, and my god the difference!

It's not like people are especially happy or patient, but nowhere have I read so much moaning than the UK about mental health, being unable to wear a mask... and not coping when really NOTHING has happened to them!

It's embarrassing.

Your attitude is embarrassing. Cultures a different and some are a lot more compliant than others, especial in the east. Still doesn't mean id rather be in Russia or China.

Also, the UK is more advanced when it comes to accepting mental health issues. There just not much medical help for it. But here it is more normal to talk about your struggles and rightly so. Doesn't mean other countries have fewer mental health issues. It just means it is still a lot more stigmatised, including in my west European home country. Mental health issues there mean weakness and people still look down on you when you admit to struggle.

Plums I actually can't believe all the things that have been made into criminal offenses.

Thats not really rebellious, its a natural response to bad law-making. Laws should be clear, easy to follow and transparent, not confusing, ever-changing and disproportionate. A lot of what is being passed off as laws are guidelines only and not legally enforecable and would not stand up in court.

Its made me realise the importance of not having health anxiety and following your own common sense. There was a study in one newspaper which showed there is a direct correlation between high levels of health anxiety and dying earlier than your usual life expectancy.

I've had Covid too. 4 days of a bad headache and aching legs. I'm more concerned about the damage to the economy and people committing suicide (I indirectly know of 4 suicides linked to lockdown).

e1 "That’ll be why they’re starting vaccinations with the over 80s confined to care homes, because they’re the ones we’ve really got to watch?"

they're not starting with them, there are delivery issues.

can I ask, has anyone had a proper chat with the CTs or do you just hear certain words and make assumptions? Just because I'm worried about the possibility of the microchip doesn't mean i think it's in the vaccine. It might be groundwork, who knows.

I must away. But before I do - I wonder how much of this is down to what you see in your local area?

round here, within minutes of lockdown, they had big signs drawing attention to every street camera, big signs near the flowers and blossom trees in the park "DO NOT STOP HERE - YOU ARE HERE FOR EXERCISE ONLY" - etc. There were massive warning signs about being watched all over the place if you did a 3 minute circuit walk where I live.

where my mum lives - different council and county - nothing.

I did stop going for walks because you couldn't go anywhere without a sign that said BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU.

if it's made a few people go mad, please don't blame those people. What we've been subjected to in my area has been really grim.

my best friend lives in Brixton and when she was first allowed to come here and saw the signage, she said "They'd not get away with it in Brixton" which is also an interesting perspective.

oh, and police cars everywhere, and circling the park with a megaphone telling us "you are only here for exercise". It was horrendous.

"are you saying there's no evidence of having the tech to make a microchip work?"

What I'm saying is that there's no evidence I've seen of any device small enough to be administered within an injectable vaccine that will be remotely interrogatable and not noticable on administration. It will presumably be unpowered (RFID?) or have some as-yet-undiscovered biological way of being powered (magic). The RFID devices I've seen people implant experimentally personally are larger than this, I think (11mm long?). And not cleared by liver or kidneys if it migrated into the bloodstream, nor causing adverse health events (I expect people would notice if this device did enter the bloodstream and cause cardio-vascular events).

And we will be diluting the Pfizer/Biontech before administering it as it's not pre-made so would probably notice any particle even 1mm? large.

I expect some people will take a dose and examine it microscopically so it will presumably have to have a mechanism of action and be undetectable.

So unless I've missed something (always possible and always looking to learn), this would involve something well beyond state of the known art.

I am concerned that quite a few friends could have diagnosable health anxiety after all this. They don’t seem to see the precautions as situation specific but rather than it’s for now and all time unreasonable to see people outside your immediate family indoors.... I find it a bit “off the deep end”

I will be dreadfully offended if it turns out remote microchip control of humans via an invisible chip injected into the bloodstream is indeed possible. Why was I not recruited to this massive project?

I work on high tech things. I know the science and the maths. Some fucker developed all that technology, successfully hid all the early work, including tests on flocks of sheep, advances in micro batteries, modification of neurochemical pathways through microchips somehow stimulating something, the advances in wifi load transmitting all the data, never mind all the analytics and yet nobody phoned me. Bastards.

I've not seen any jobs on LinkedIn. Maybe I searched on the wrong thing.

Mind you, I think I might have invented a medicine it looks, smells and tastes a lot like Lucozade which neutralises the chips and also stops lizard people being able to track you through smell. PM me your bank details if you are not a sheeple.

"I am hopeful a vaccine and hot weather will start to bring us towards normality in April/May. But in some ways I don't think things will be the same again (in some cases for better/in some for worse)"

I'm buggered if I can think of a single upside personally.

Acorn round here, within minutes of lockdown, they had big signs drawing attention to every street camera, big signs near the flowers and blossom trees in the park "DO NOT STOP HERE - YOU ARE HERE FOR EXERCISE ONLY" - etc. There were massive warning signs about being watched all over the place if you did a 3 minute circuit walk where I live.

OMG. My local council posted on a local FB group asking for information on the identity of a family with 2 small children who stepped over the closed barrier of a playpark and allowed their children to play on it during the first lockdown.

It was such a sinister post. They were really threatening them with prosecution and calling them all sorts of things, including being responsible for transmitting the virus. Fortunately, no-one knew who they were.

I agree, I have friends the same, some think it’s a big conspiracy theory and refuse to wear masks or comply to rules, others are too scared to leave their homes incase they catch it. People are being aggressive towards each other for having different views, people complaining that neighbours are not sticking to the rules, people slagging off generations of people for not protecting their elders.

@AcornAutumn. No I’ll be honest, I’ve never seen anything like that and I am in one of the worst hit areas of the UK (6th worst town at one point).

Are you in the UK?

There was supposedly (I didn’t see them as I didn’t go out besides for work), Police doing vehicle checks to check why people were travelling.

But what you describe, absolutely not.

I think before all this many people bumbled along in situations which were quite stable and predictable. The situation itself might not have been great but it was stable and predictable -people felt an element of control. Society likes predictability and control so people weren’t encouraged to change this mindset.

This pandemic has thrown the world on its head, what was black is now white, what was up is now down. People’s very existence, whether socially,physically, career wise, family wise, financially wise has been thrown into doubt. People look for alternatives to fill the gaps of predictability and explainability. People get angry if their own model is questioned. Conspiracy theorists scoff at others, those clinging onto science like some new found god shout down even those with perfectly valid doubts and questions as heretics who should be burned at the stake. There’s no middle ground because middle ground means grey areas. People want black and white, - a return to the old certainties.

People faced with uncertainty like this for the first time are not equipped to deal with it. There’s a lot of people who will need help. I feel fortunate that I struggled with MH issues before this and it equipped me to d/W the pandemic.

It's changed me for the worst. I have become selfish, bitter, resentful that I can't do my hobby and just completely apathetic about the whole thing.

I hate who this has turned me into.

Probably controversial but the hypocrisy of people is irritating me. Eg. People obsessed with COVID lurking around every corner and yet smoking 50 a day, morbidly obese and drinking alcohol like it’s water.
That’s just bizarre to me- being paranoid about a virus and assuming everyone will infect them yet happily engaging in lifestyle habits that are likely to kill them anyway! They can’t care “that” much about their health and welfare if they are doing all that damaging stuff! (But of course I suppose that’s different because they enjoy those things and therefore the damage to their health doesn’t count).
Cognitive dissonance at its finest!

@wanderings

Yep. It’s totally reinforced my disbelief in government. I’ve loathed government in general since Tony Blair grinned his way into power, made himself rich and took us into his illegal war based on a huge lie (and he still walks free) but now I utterly despise government, and I distrust everything they say more than ever.

This ^^

I suppose I always thought that in a crisis the government would come through for us. That politics would cease to be important and they would work together to get the country through. How wrong I was. I now despise the lot of them with a passion.