Potential long term changes as outcome of pandemic

[FredaFrogspawn]

I wonder if this global pandemic will change the way we work and travel, leading to:

~vastly increased working from home practices, ~less face to face international meetings and more video conferencing
~far more people taking domestic holidays rather than fly overseas

I’m hoping this will be one of the silver linings to cone from this; environmentally we need a reset, and it was hard to imagine what was ever going to stop our mass consumerism; cheap, limited wear fashion, amazon deliveries within hours, food waste, mass global movement. Maybe this will be that reset and give my generation and those after (I’m 44), a chance to experience hardship and a new found appreciation for things, aswell as getting back to having appreciation for things and saving up/waiting for the things we need and not just the things we want.

I wouldn’t wish this virus on the world, but my glass is always half full and it helps me manage things by looking for any possible benefits

I’m 44 too @siblingrevelryagain. I’ve experienced real hardship and know many others of the same generation who have also experienced real hardship. Be careful what you wish for.

Sorry if my post came across as flippant-I’d happily see this virus wiped out and things return to how they were (my 73 year old Dad is having chemo so I’m quietly shitting himself about him getting sick(er).

I was musing on the fact that we all just expect everything now or yesterday; people change decor/furniture on a whim and buy-now-pay-later, we want food that is available instantly and don’t care of it’s provenance. Too many people don’t give a shit about the impact their behaviours have on the environment (I still have neighbours who can’t be bothered to recycle, even though the council makes it really easy with separate wheelie bins). We need to start understanding that we have a limited time left to change our ways (but with climate-change deniers in charge of the big powers it’s difficult).

So no, I’m not wishing for anything bad to happen to anyone. I’m just hoping that if we have to go through hell, there might be some eventual benefit to come out of it (Coronavirus being the thing that finally gets rid of Trump being the first!)

The nature of these things is that they are quick relatively speaking. Hopefully the the impact to the UK can be mitigated by a well functioning NHS and public awareness. Interestingly I think global travel has many positive aspects. Yes we need to reduce pollution but Biofuels and improved aeronautics are beginning to develop those answers.

I got what you meant @ without having to condescendingly spoonfeed it to me in your second post.

I just think

A) It’s bad to assume because you have lived without hardship, everyone else the same age/generation has also lived without hardship

B) It’s very arrogant to assume everyone but you has an cavalier attitude to the environment/climate change/other people and therefore they need to learn a lesson.

That didn’t feel like condescending spoon feeding, just developing a point.