What social change do you think COVID will trigger?

[jewel1968]

I have been pondering this for a while and as we spend more time in lockdown I wonder what the long term social impacts will be. Some are fairly obvious but I am wondering what else might occur. For me I think when we finally get to the other side of this pandemic I can see some changes, such as:

• lots more home working where infrastructure allows
• more people continuing to exercise at home or in the park and gyms not so attractive
• fashion changes with people more focused on comfort e.g. high heels go out of favour
• perhaps an impact on how we look after children
• if schools perfect online learning we might see it used in some circumstances e.g. When kids are too sick to travel to school but could work from home
• a change in how we test kids e.g. might we move away from exams

I know some social scientists think we might enter a decadent period similar to the roaring twenties.

Interested in your thoughts...

I'd like to see more funding for NHS, education and mental health provisions.

I think there will be very little change. A year isn't really long enough to change the habits of a lifetime.
Perhaps more home working and a few months of frenetic enjoying ourselves, then back to how it was.
However, I say this as in the context of 51 years without covid and 1 year with. Maybe younger people will see more opportunities for change.

@jewel1968

Gosh some of these predictions are (understandably) very bleak.

To the NZ mumsnetters - are there still imports of goods? And if so, how is it done safely? Also, how do people feel about the ban on travel? I hear a lot here from people who think traveling abroad is almost a human right or need. And some here are predicting an increase in international travel in response to the lockdown.

Yes, we have sea and air freight coming in. Sea shipping has been disrupted globally. There are rules in place so that ship crew can come on shore - I think they need to essentially be a bubble for 2 weeks on board and then have to have a negative test.

Air crew also have their own rules. Air NZ has started using Hawaii as a hub to swap crews rather than LA. Like everywhere a lot of passenger planes have been converted to cargo.

I think it’s just been a matter of refining the process as issues come up. Communication with the public has been a huge part of this. As someone pointed out on another thread - it’s been positive - “be kind” rather than “save hospitals” which I think obviously worked in the short term, but not longer term.

NZers travel internationally a lot. Many of us have family overseas and of course we have a big Pacific population with family living across the Pacific. People are of course missing family. I know my colleagues with parents living in the UK and the USA have been quite stressed about the situations in those countries.

I haven’t heard anyone complaining about missing a weekend in Melbourne or winter break in Fiji though. We are worried about the economies of our Pacific neighbours though as a lot of that is based on tourism - even more than NZ.

I've long advocated a more standardised approach to teaching/schools rather than the ad-hoc situation we have now where different teachers do things very differently, all creating their own resources etc. Massive amounts of time could be saved, and standards improved, by having a central library of resources and a standardised approach. And yes, a central online provider would help towards a seamless learning experience where there is reduced necessity for students to actually be in the classroom, in case of illness etc.

So teachers just deliver a script? How boring.

I don't think there will be much change maybe more online shopping and appointments but overall people want meals out, pubs, weddings, holidays cinemas etc that hasn't changed and I think as soon as we can we'll go straight back to doing it all.

Really interesting to see what is happening in NZ. Thanks for sharing...

Not so sure about that. Teaching is a secure profession. There'll be huge numbers of unemployed due to businesses going bust etc - the better educated amongst the newly unemployed could view fairly brief/cheap training into a secure profession like teaching as being attractive.

No way. Even people who desperately wanted to teach and live and breathe teaching find it very hard and the drop out rate is absolutely huge. Anyone who chases it as a 'secure job with brief/cheap training' will never make it. Especially in light of the other things I highlighted like how hard it is and how trampled on teachers are as a profession in the UK.

One thing I hope changes/stays changed is being able to talk to or even see a GP without having to go in!

I really don't think much will change at all. I think we will have our own version of the 1920s, a short era of heavy partying to make up for the loneliness. And then a crippling recession (1930s all over again).

I can see more blended learning in schools. From memory a minority of schools were already open 4/4.5 days a week instead of 5 & I can see that continuing.

A 4 days in school 1 at home could reduce staff budgets and or free up teachers for more 1:1 learning.

I think there will be even fewer banks on the high st and an expectation of everything online

I think fewer places will take cash.

We will continue to invest in our homes & gardens

Public sector workers will still be badly paid.

@AubergineDream

I really don't think much will change at all. I think we will have our own version of the 1920s, a short era of heavy partying to make up for the loneliness. And then a crippling recession (1930s all over again).

I agree, but I think the shock is coming sooner than people think, and bigger than any of us are expecting, because I don't think businesses are bouncing back from this one. I think this still has a year or so of hard lockdowns to go, and then the reckoning that many people have no stable future of work ahead of them, or no prospect of future employment ahead of them. Then the food prices start going up, not creeping up, but actually moving.

One way or another everything we are begging the government to pay for has to be repaid. Governments only move money from point A to point B. That money comes from either the employer or the employee, and if it comes from the employer, that is more of an incentive for them to cut back on employees, employee benefits, or increase prices to the consumers. So one way or another, the employee pays everything back that everyone has borrowed, either through direct taxation, loss of services (cutbacks to the NHS, schools, benefits system etc.) or increased costs of day to day living.

We seem to fill threads on MN about how the government should pay for this or that, or spend more money on this or that. Soon people will realise that the government just moves money from A to B, and the people now have to pay the piper for everything they have asked for.

Its gonna be scary for those who claim they did not see it coming, but it has been building for a decade or more, and I think it is going to happen in every country in the world.

I think house prices thoughout the country will level out a bit. Not completely obviously but beautiful coastal villages where it was once possible to pick up a 'bargain', there will be a lot of people picking up a house outside of their old city knowing they can wfh.

Obviously property will still be more expensive the closer it is to the centre of the city but this will be less extreme.

@AubergineDream

I really don't think much will change at all. I think we will have our own version of the 1920s, a short era of heavy partying to make up for the loneliness. And then a crippling recession (1930s all over again).

Incidentally, the 'crippling recession' was only crippling to those who didn't see it coming. It was reported in the 40's and 50's that more millionaires were made in that 10 year block than at any other time in history up until that point. So, more like a massive shifting of wealth from weak hands to strong hands in that sense. Unfortunately for most, those who already have wealth know full well what is coming, have prepared to take advantage of the opportunities it presents, and will likely remain strong throughout.

@AubergineDream

I really don't think much will change at all. I think we will have our own version of the 1920s, a short era of heavy partying to make up for the loneliness. And then a crippling recession (1930s all over again).

I hope not at least there hasn't just been a war.

@PusheenLove

Hand sanitisation will be integrated into almost every environment and become norm.

If only. Did you see the thread about not washing hands after the toilet?

• Pretty much the end of business travel - it will start to look unethical environmentally for businesses to be flying people out for meetings thar could be had online. Maybe it will only happen for longer planned trips once or twice a year.
• Local town/suburb centres having to become more lively and competitive with one another as more people work from home
• I'd like to see moves to get more 'ordinary' people living in major city centres - not just the richest and the poorest. But that's a difficult one as city centre land is sooo expensive, even if it were to fall a bit.
• Face masks on public transport will become common without being mandated in winter
• I don't think people will be shy of crowds and big events if they're not in a vulnerable group, I'd happily get back to crowds myself!
• Clearly, a lot more working from home where that's possible; a lot will have to be recalibrated for that

I also hope more taxation on online megabusinesses

Maybe even the Tories taxing the better off more - honestly, I think a lot of people in even slightly above-average paying white collar jobs have done quite well out of lockdown, saving money on commuting and activities (we certainly have). Honestly, households like ours could shoulder more tax without hardship and that would be a much smarter move than more austerity.

@DanceLikeAdamAnt

I think house prices thoughout the country will level out a bit. Not completely obviously but beautiful coastal villages where it was once possible to pick up a 'bargain', there will be a lot of people picking up a house outside of their old city knowing they can wfh.

Obviously property will still be more expensive the closer it is to the centre of the city but this will be less extreme.

I think in the next 5 years house prices will start to fall. There is a rise as people flee the cities, those who see the lockdowns continuing and the move to working from home, and the inevitable increase in muggings and violence in the cities.

But when the reality of the destruction of the economy is seen for what it is, and the businesses that are no longer viable on paper actually fail, and the larger corporations consolidate their workforces, and the government starts to move forward with the new green agenda, and the taxation begins to hit right across the board, I think there will be a contraction in the market.

Starting slow, an entrenchment of people staying put and making do with where they are at, followed by a gradual release of properties to the market as the country heads from recession into depression, and banks foreclose on people who cannot pay their mortgages. Starting with small inner city flats and houses, it will spread up to middle class homes and we'll see prices drop as those struggling to pay the mortgage realise they need cheaper and smaller out of necessity.

So a drop in prices 5-8 years off. I think that is the sweet spot for people wanting to buy good property cheap relative to the current market.

@Echobelly

I also hope more taxation on online megabusinesses

Maybe even the Tories taxing the better off more - honestly, I think a lot of people in even slightly above-average paying white collar jobs have done quite well out of lockdown, saving money on commuting and activities (we certainly have). Honestly, households like ours could shoulder more tax without hardship and that would be a much smarter move than more austerity.

It wouldn't surprise me if they don't pull a one time tax grab on real estate above 1M, and a one time money grab from the rich. It could be explained away to the rich (if you don't let us do this, you know what Labour will do to you), they could be offered future benefit in a future administration, and it would be a real vote winner with the working poor and the liberal middle classes. Particularly if the press played their part and it was made to look punishingly harsh.

Where I work, we are cutting admin posts. We can’t offshore (yet) as you need to be a British National with vetting to work there but many of the tasks have been automated. My friend works in financial services and their secretarial staff are being offshored to Eastern Europe.

I think this will speed up automation of jobs, especially low skilled jobs. Retail will become more automated. The high street is dead, it’ll just be buying goods online which will be dispatched from automated distribution centres.

@Donoteatthekittens

Where I work, we are cutting admin posts. We can’t offshore (yet) as you need to be a British National with vetting to work there but many of the tasks have been automated. My friend works in financial services and their secretarial staff are being offshored to Eastern Europe.

I think this will speed up automation of jobs, especially low skilled jobs. Retail will become more automated. The high street is dead, it’ll just be buying goods online which will be dispatched from automated distribution centres.

New jobs created, robot developers etc.

Not much will change. Perhaps online shopping will now be even more common than before and any new business will also have an online element to it. Maybe there will be a small increase in home working. Maybe universities may offer more online provision. Other than that I don't see much changing. Mostly people and businesses are just looking to get back to how things were pre-pandemic. Rightly or wrongly.

Instead of high street window dressers big important people are getting their interiors dressed for Zoom calls, as one example.

Humans are amazing we will adapt.

frozendaisy - Not everybody can be a robot developer or work in AI. People with no qualifications or low academic ability will struggle.

Everyone I know is desperate for this to be over and get our old lives back. As they were before. I want my February 2020 life back as it was thanks. I can’t see people wanting to make many long term changes to be honest. I would hope better funding for the NHS going forward but I can’t see WFH staying anywhere near as much as people think it will.