How do you think life will change in the future?

[rosebb1]

Lots of people saying that life won't be the same again, things will change, won't go back to normal...ever? Please could you explain why you think that?

I must be very naive as I was thinking that once this is over in...6/12 months or whatever it will be, things would return to how they were before this...?

I think more companies will allow people to work part time from home. They might also review the need for so much work related travel abroad instead of teleconferencing and skyping.
I'm also hoping it might make people review their need for multiple foreign holidays, weekend breaks to Paris, shopping trips to New York etc which are so bad for the environment.

I think/hope

People will prep better in general, be more self reliant
Increased WFH
Increased flexibility with work
Increased sense of social responsibility
Increased sense of community
Increased volunteering culture
Increased value on healthy living, diet, exercise etc
Increased development of technologies to improve safety & quality of life - contactless devices, online communication tools etc

*children are going to be returning at a higher level
*
Whaaaat? Have you been living under a rock? The large majority of children will return to school having made little or no progress, despite every effort from conscientious parents.

The kids with less than conscientious parents will have actually regressed. In my school we are already formulating intensive catch up plans.

Some of these are very optimistic!

@ElbasAbsentPenis It's not just you. My almost three year was nervous about playing with some toys in her toybox at home the other day and wanted gloves on. She said they were dirty and had germs on and would make her sick. When we dug down to the bottom of this, it turned out nursery had been taking away toys regularly to deep clean them. She had picked up on the conversations around her. Brought home to me about how careful we need to be in discussing the situation when she is around.

If we got a break from all this for two weeks no repercussions right now what would people do? Stay home, home school and not spend?

Depression
Prices shoot up
I'm worried it will never go away:(

I think people will rethink how they work and many will make huge efforts to retrain and study as they've seen how easily they can be laid off from less skilled jobs.

People will acknowledge that air travel causes many problems and will only do it if necessary.

Kingcole that would be nice but I think there’s still a large chunk who would fly now amidst all this if you let them. Sadly I reckon it’ll shoot up after unless prices are high.

In the class Facebook groups for mine everyone seems to be very on the ball. Same with other parents on my feeds whose children go to different schools. Primary school age though, may be different for secondary where teenagers are more resistant. I imagine for most part parents will be doing a good job, even if they take a little to adjust. With more individual attention to their studies they’ll of course come back working at a higher level than they would’ve otherwise. I’ve never heard of a study that didn’t indicate this was the case.

MarshaBradyo I'd go to the beach!!

I hope we will become less materialistic and start buying less "stuff" - clothes, shoes, anything easily disposable. I hope people will realise they do not need anywhere near as much as they've been fed to think over the years. I think there will be an initial boom and then it will calm down as people's priorities will change.

I also think a lot of us will be more mindful and will try to:

Look after their health and wellbeing
Walk more
Exercise more
Spend more time outdoors
Spend more time seeing people face to face or at least calling them regularly
Improve hygiene & cleanliness
Cook healthier & from scratch, not to eat rubbish
Be environmentally friendly
Read more, invest in self-development
Have savings
Invest in insurance, sort out our wills and legal stuff
Not to postpone things
Notice when others need help, reach out
Be compassionate towards others in a worse position than us, no matter who they are and where they come from
Listen to experts instead of pretending they know best

Hopefully there will be less social media influencers, as this situation shows they aren't needed. I don't rate them at all, I think all they do is promoting stuff that nobody needs and make us feel inferior. I'd gladly see all of them gone.

I know some of it might be wishful thinking, the world will not become perfect and some people will never change. However, I hope others will.

Coronavirus won't be a magic cure to the world's problems, but I feel it's a huge wake up call.

I'm of Eastern European origin and in the nicest possible way, over the years I've realised how spoilt, greedy and materialistic people are, not only in the UK. It is a Western thing, everything is easy, quick, available, there's a huge sense of self-entitlement, feeling exceptional, neediness and superiority and it is combined with low resilience. You haven't been exposed to difficult historical events in the past. I have, although I don't remember it very well, but my immediate family do and we've been brought up differently where I'm from. I'm still finding this new reality right now difficult, but having thought about it, it's because I've been here for a long time and it's the westernised part of me that is finding it harder.

In the class Facebook groups for mine everyone seems to be very on the ball. Same with other parents on my feeds whose children go to different schools.

Do you think that maybe, in a public forum where 'most people seem to be on the ball' people aren't admitting if they're struggling, perhaps?

It also depends on your demographic, I guess. This whole thing is a million times easier for a SAHM than anyone else; if you're trying to work from home it's pretty awful for most people, and if you would normally be at work but aren't because your employer or business is closed there is less pressure on time but another awful stress constantly in the background.

Definitely think there will be more health anxiety off the back of this. Just extra anxiety and mental health issues in general really.
Maybe more companies will realise their staff can actually work from home too-so more remote working perhaps.

Pretty sure we are going to have a bad recession. Lots of businesses will go bust.

People who normally only have a couple of days food and loo roll in the house will start having more as they now realise that, yes, anything could happen that means you can't get shopping.

I would like to think some good will come of it in that people will be kinder to each other and look out for friends, neighbours etc more but in reality I doubt that will be the case.

I also hope that more people decide not to have children so the population stops increasing as it has been

I think there will be massive changes to the economy and a significant recession to get over once the health crisis is resolved.

But in the longer term, I think there will be wholesale changes in society also. We will have less long distance travel - already the reduction in travel and economic activity is allowing Carbon emissions to drop and nature to emerge in places it had been existing on the fringes in recent years - clearer waters in Venitian canals, lots more birds singing in our area, reductions in smog in other cities...

We will become more aware of looking after ourselves and having sufficient buffers ready for emergencies. More like many of our parents and grandparents were after the World Wars and the shortages they had then (I don't think there will be shortages, just that people will understand that supply chains are more vulnerable than they look to shocks).

I hope there will be a return to more community values and less of the "me me me" culture that I have seen rising in recent years - people do seem to be pulling together at least at local levels.

And I hope that there will be a chance for society to slow down a little, and people to realise that you need time for everything and not having to get things done right this instant. Like the slow food movement had been trying to do for good food, but for life in general. It's not all about instant gratification.

But I think that there will also be a greater recognition of the value of some modern technologies like the internet and social media for keeping in touch. And that older people come to see that value too. That it's not all about stoking outrage on Twitter but sharing good ideas like fitness videos to do at home etc.

And hopefully also that employers will, generally, be more facilitative of people working from home (I know not all jobs are suitable, but many more are suitable than employers like to admit) -and realise that people can be trusted to be productive when WFH.

I also think that we are likely to see a change in how people eat, I don't know if veganism or vegetarianism will rise (although there will be some who use this to call for it), but I do think that we are likely to see an increase in using local and seasonal produce again rather than ingredients that are flown in from far away. And hopefully also a reduction in food waste as people learn to only buy what they need, and to buy for a few days at once not on a daily basis. Planning how to use what they have and making use of leftovers, etc.

I suspect that there will also be a significant shift in population pyramids, unfortunately, that there will have been a significant increase in deaths, and particularly amongst the elderly, worldwide. There may well be a huge spike in births in 8-12 months time also.

But there may also be a change in how people live - reducing densities in cities, and putting in better infrastructure to allow WFH etc in more rural areas which will allow those areas to develop more. Spreading out the population somewhat.

@purpleraingirl You say people in the UK have never been subject to significant stress points and thats simply not true. I grew up in Scotland in the 80s under Thatcher as she and her Government destroyed communities, leaving hard working families in true poverty that would last decades. Even today many people in the UK live tough lives. I have links to Eastern Europe and have lived there on and off since the mid 90s and I appreciate that many people suffered there in the past and there are aspects of the culture that I admire and wish were more common here but in making a blanket statement like that about the UK is just showing your own ignorance. I can only assume you know mostly wealthy, privileged British people.

Unfortunately predictions are that corona e
Won't have a vaccinne for 1 or 2 years. So even if there are rest periods in the summer months, vulnerable will still be mostly isolating if they want to avoid getting it. In fact anyone who wants to avoid it will still have very changed lives.
It's a long time.

I wonder about the dating scene. Lots of video calls and people waiting longer to dtd?

I actually think birth rates will go down as people will be so nervous about bringing a child into the world when the risks are unkown and the fact lots of hospitals are limiting visitors for scans, labour wards etc. Plus the economic effect. People will be lacking in money!

I think some people are being optimistic. Historically, after a recession, nationalist governments come to power (which is what I think will happen). There has already been a swing to the right in the Western world, before all this. This won’t be good news for refugees and obvious immigrants. I can already see the tabloid headlines - keep jobs and benefits for the British etc. Plus verbal and physical attacks on those that are obviously not British, on the streets - Brexit already seemed to lift the lid on some of this, a recession will make it worse.

@raisinyorkie That's an incorrect assumption. My husband grew up in the 80s, under Thatcher in South Wales Valleys. We had numerous discussions over the years regarding the resilience and attitude of the British in general and we are in agreement. It is very, very different to the way we are in EE.

I also think a back to basics type culture. Growing own food, cooking, being with family and the small things in life. Or give it two years and people will go crazy, giving the middle finger to the environment as they have been restricted for so long!

I do think people will be less fussed about travelling abroad.

Especially as a lot of western culture comes from America these days and they are looking to get a whole lot worse.

WTFdidwedo me too. When this ends I reckon we’ll see a spike in people saying great I’m outta here and jumping on first flight (they can afford).

A hike in all taxes to gain as much money back for the government as possible. I would like to hope the Universal Credit system is scrapped as it is seen to be the disaster it is.