What weird shit might happen?

[GreyishDays]

So far I’ve thought of:

Drug addicts that normally shop lift to get money, what will they do?

People living a double life, they’ll have to choose one family to isolate with.

Err that’s all I can think of, but surely there’s more?

@NoName33 have you seen the calmharm app? It has all sorts of options for distraction or mindfulness or activities, anything to put off an urge to do something harmful.

we all get fat!

Introverts / hermits like me will thrive

Teenage boys haircuts - start of peaky blinder cut going out of fashion in favour of longer hair and more teenage boy beards. My DS has a right beard going on

If house prices don’t plummet through the floor, most people will be moving house after this as they’re sick of the sight of their own house.

There will be meals that you never want to eat again. Similar to when you were given Scotch Broth/chicken soup/tomato soup/mushroom soup when you were sick as a kid and can’t face it now. Someone will mention omelets or chilli and all you’ll be able to think about is when you were socially distant and that’s all you could find to eat.

In 10 years time, you will be going through a stack of old papers and find the helpful community postcard that has been pushed through your door and wonder who the fuck this person was offering to get your shopping for you (having forgotten the community spirit).

I started a thread about this the other day but it didn't get much response, but this is what I thought:

Sex workers. Will there be a decrease in prostitution or an increase in cam girls/ online porn. Porn hub already has a Coronavirus section.

Cabin fever- will it lead to a baby boom in 9 months?

Crime- will there be a decrease? Or worse, will there be an increase in domestic violence as people are stuck indoors together with no chance of avoiding it?

Newspapers. If less people are going out to buy their daily paper, and there are less people working in the physical printing and delivery part of it, will any newspapers go out an print, and if so, would the page 3 girl be a thing of the past? I've seen the daily mail is offering to do delivery, but will people bother when they can read it online for free?

Working from home. Will it force companies to reassess their wfh policies in the future, leading to better work life balance and potentially better situations for parents?

Start ups. Less employees are likely to take the risk jumping to an unknown company with no track record and generous sick pay, preferring bigger established tech companies. Will this slow start up growth?

Teachers. Now that parents are having to home school, will they appreciate teachers more when schools open again, potentially leading to an increase in teacher salary? Same for care and medical workers? Will more people want to train to be teachers, carers and medical professionals?

Internet. So many people working from home, internet providers are having to double their efforts. Will this lead to better cheaper internet in the long run?

Pubs/cooking. If pubs and restaurants are sadly closing, and food is being rationed, will this lead to people being more mindful of food wastage when they cook? An increase in cooking skills and a decrease in the use of take always?

Several livelihoods are unfortunately under threat, but will new ones start? (I'm thinking how being an influencer wasn't a thing 20 years ago but is now). Speaking of, as travel and borders are restricted, will this see a decrease in travel bloggers?

Pollution. You can already google the images of Wuhan and now Venice to see the impact that human isolation as made, will this impact in a greater way?

I was worried for the homeless in our town centres - with fewer people passing by (no shops open, people who live there not able to go out) they won't get spare change or food/ drinks bought for them. Will they be able to go to shelters, or what are the other alternatives??

Shelters in the Uk were told to close by the government. The only other alternative is accommodation provided by the local authority, which is in very short supply.

BTW Not everyone who is begging is homeless. And not all homeless people are beggars - many are invisible as they are sofa surfing.

Most of the money that people give to beggars is not spent on food, it goes to feed people’s addictions.

Or in the case of professional beggars, to whoever they are working for.

Please please, if you want to help - donate ( money, time, goods ) to a charity, local or national.

Hopefully the stigma of female body hair will go down.

I'm massively concerned about the obvious spike in mental health we are going to witness from just about everyone.
My own mh took a battering through a trauma and things were getting easier but I'm super bothered about children mh not seeing and playing with friends etc

Will we all just become anti-social and avoid group situations?

Rhubarb I read a book about medics during WWI in the autumn as DH's school were putting on Regeneration by Pat Barker. Interestingly, the medics apparently didn't suffer much PTSD (aka "shell shock") after the war as they felt they were doing all they could and had a clear job to do to save lives, even though they had to make hard decisions. The ones who suffered badly were privates who felt that what they were doing was pointless, who didn't feel like they could do anything to help, who didn't really want to be killing anyone and that people were dying around them for no reason.

Re: picky eaters. I've already seen this positive shift with my DCs - DC1 has tried and liked peanut butter which he apparently always hated, DC2 ate some salad. This was after I read them the riot act about having to eat what we have in the house in case we can't get any more.

I also think that a lot of the trans ideology will quietly go away and the various consultations in the UK and Scotland will be permanently kicked into the long grass. Turns out that when a virus comes along, it doesn't care what you feel in your head, it just cares about your biology and it turns out this virus kills twice as many men as women in every country, not just China with its different smoking rates for men. As a result, it will become unacceptable to use NHS resources to surgically alter a healthy body and put people on hormones and other medications for life and other avenues will have to be explored to support transpeople better - hopefully a huge increase in mental health provision and funding.

I think this will be the biggest change to society since the war (or maybe the introduction of the pill).

Lots of folk working from home, companies will realise that in the main workers are similarly productive and they save money on office space etc.

Hopefully people will learn how to cook as they need to be more inventive with the available ingredients.

Local businesses such as farm shops who have introduced deliveries will gain permanent new customers.

Suicide rate will go up.

I have a disabled son, I swear to god, I’m having a hard time trying to be positive because if anything happens to me, he is lost.

If anything happens to him, I’m off a very tall bridge.

We're already losing all those Saturday night threads where partners swear blind they'll be back by 8 and roll in pissed out of their skulls at 9 the next morning. What are all those men doing now?

The person I relied on most, my mum, died just before Christmas. I am a total fucking mess swinging between despair and “we’re all fucked...where’s the nearest bridge?”

Obesity might go down as people lose weight to protect themselves. I really hope they do my friend is obese and I want to beg her to lose weight. Obviously never would have before but so worried she will get a bad reaction to CV.

I live in the drugs capital of Europe (apparently!) and I’m also wondering what will happen to the users. I have a feeling the police will be easygoing and allow them to buy drugs, they turn a blind eye to it already as it is!

Hot desks only. I left ‘my’ desk at work in Monday, I expect that when I go back the WFH culture and the need to cut overheads will combine. ‘Our’ desks will go, and will be replaced by hot desks.

Hand shakes. I think these will be reduced, or at least not a fixed part of business culture.

Nits. Love the idea that nits will go down!

I think we will travel less to other countries because governments will crack down on open borders and because air travel will be more expensive again with so many airlines going bust. It will be like going back in time to when we holidayed locally or 'on the continent'.

We just got 3 chickens apparently there's been a rush on them.

You’ll see a lot of ‘real’ faces. No Botox, fillers etc.

@TheLadyAnne can you talk to anyone irl? It sounds like you have a lot on your plate.

Current selfishness amongst some will lead to some friendships/family relationships being damaged for ever.
People seem to think there will be no price to pay, I don't think that is true.
We will all bore future generations telling them how we had it much harder than them.
MH - Mine has actually improved during this.

Although I could not afford to do much of it, I preferred travel when it was more expensive as you could enjoy it more with less crowded places.

People who have multiple chest freezers stuffed with food will get their stash burgled when their house is empty (empty because they are out in their camper vans having jolly family outings and infecting other people).