Social Isolation & It's Impact

The recent Covid-19 pandemic has brought about a lot of changes that the world is still recovering from. Primary amongst them as been the work / study from home trends caused by widespread lockdowns and quarantines. While such an isolation takes its toll on everyone, probably the impact would be the greatest on youngsters. The social growth of a person at these critical junctures in life is linked to the exposure they receive. And the world has been deprived of such exposures and interactions for close to a couple of years now. The impact of this event and the possible permanent introduction of virtual “classrooms” would change the way we interact with our friends, grow and come to understand our places in the society. This physical isolation would also have its impact on the psychological growth of this generation. Additionally, the young adults who have just joined the workforce faced an interesting dilemma.

The initial introduction of the work-from-home idea was accompanied by an implicit lack of communication between many employers and employees. The rise of tensions stemming from this has eventually dissipated and work-from-home has now become a pretty regular aspect. The question then becomes, as the world opens up, how would this newest generation of the workforce adjust to an in-person environment. If the remote working persists beyond covid, how does it affect the job market for the later incoming batches? As we move towards a post-covid world, the recovery may not be as simple as one would like to think. How does one tackle the changes brought about by these necessary but ultimately drastic changes to the fabric of our society? How big would the impact of the past couple of years on the world be? As we look ahead into a post-covid world, while the economic impact of the past few years is being evaluated, it is important to consider these social questions as well.