‘WHAT THE WORLD THINKS’ SERIES
A list of predictions for life after Coronavirus (Part 1)
How will we be living our lives after coronavirus is over? Here’s a collection of thoughts from people around the UK…
Supposedly it takes 66 days for the average person to form a new habit. If we are indeed in lockdown for the amount of time the government has suggested, by the time lockdown is lifted we will have been hibernating for around 60 days. This means many people will have become accustomed to their new lockdown limitations and the way the world has been operating. The slow pace, working from home, being around family all the time, ordering everything online, making and creating… some of these will have become concrete habits that some not only will be enjoying but will also be ingrained.
Obviously we will have to go back to the way things were before to some degree. But some elements of these new daily routines and lifestyles will stick, and will impact not only us as individuals but wider society and the economy.
How will we be living our lives after coronavirus is over? Over the last two weeks I’ve been asking a number of strangers to give me their own predictions as to how life might change forever. And the results were varied and fascinating. So fascinating that I made a podcast out of the voice notes they sent me. But for those that don’t like listening, here are the most interesting snippets of their ideas for you to read…
WE’LL BE TESTED BEFORE FLYING: “I don’t know how international transport is going to work. I don’t know how international flights are going to work again. Is it going to be a bit like 9/11 where you know that all of sudden you could never go in the cabin and they had locked doors to stop another terrorist attack like that happening? And is it gonna be similar in the sense that every time I get on a plane you’re checked for any kind of conditions or fevers or flu like symptoms?”
DIGITAL CRIME WILL INCREASE: “I think we’re going to hear a few controversies around security breaches with now everything being online and people working remote. I think there’s going to be a lot of accidents, inverted comments of informationally of conversations recorded that shouldn’t be recorded or hackings, I think are going to go up a lot as well.”
SOCIAL DISTANCING WILL BE THE NEW NORMAL: “They’ve got these markers at the supermarket to make sure you stand two meters apart from the next person. And, you know, I couldn’t help this morning taking pictures in the supermarket. We’re gonna look back on this in five years and and think, remember that crazy time when they had all had the markers on the supermarket floor? And then I thought, actually, no… what if that now is the norm? We find it amazing that people use to be able to smoke in restaurants and pubs. And, you know, that now seems like a completely ludicrous idea. Why was anyone ever allowed to do that? And maybe this is gonna be the same. Maybe it’s gonna be you know, people think it’s it’s ludicrous that you’re allowed you’re allowed to stand close them two metres to anybody else that you’ve never met before in the supermarket.”
BUSINESSES WILL BE FORCED TO EMBRACE REMOTE WORKING: “Those businesses that always told their staff it wasn’t possible for them to work from home and have a good work life balance. There’s traditional industries that just have a terrible reputation for those businesses. I think after this, having actually proven to the staff that they cannot freelance work from home, it will be difficult for them to go come out of this and say that it’s not possible for people to work from home and have a good work life balance. So one good thing that might come out of this is that those businesses will have to be a bit more modern in terms of flexible working and people be able to collect their kids at good times and that sort of thing.”
KEY WORKERS WILL BE THE NEW HEROES: “The true heroes are the invisible workforce. These are people who are cleaners in hospitals. They are nurses. They are police officers. They are the people that stack shelves in the supermarket. All of a sudden, we are relying on these individuals to keep our economy running, but also to keep us fed and watered and psychologically I think that’s a massive shift. Fundamentally, how do we recognise people who are of immense value to our society? And I think that needs to change.”
WE WILL REVISE THE BENEFITS SYSTEM: “I think the benefit system is going to change on the back of this because we have clearly seen how fragile. Not to sound or Marxist, but how fragile our capitalist economy is on an act of God. Force majeure. Right. The pandemic is an act of God. Nobody could call it. A lot of insurance companies don’t don’t cover it.”
CAREER CRISIS: “I think what we might find is people may start using this opportunity to navigate new career options without circumspection. I think prior to Covid, it is always the risk of changing industry, knowing that it could put you in financial danger and maybe people who are in jobs which are happy trying to learn new skills to bring that to the table and help make improvements in areas of the company. And so yeah, who knows? But I definitely think there will be changes within business and how people and individuals operate.”
MASKS ARE HERE TO STAY: “I think people are going to be more conscious of their health and touch. Hopefully people wash their hands more. But I wonder if masks were here to stay now on the on the underground and in places like that.”
GLOBAL PROBLEM SOLVING IS POSSIBLE: “So I think the biggest change that’s gonna be, which people are noticing, is that for the first time in human history everyone on the planet is working towards the same unified goal. And because of that, we’re moving at unprecedented pace to solve a serious issue that affects everyone. So my hope is that imagine if we could apply that same strategy and work ethic and unity to solving other problems after this said things like things that affect everyone. So things like cancer and poverty and climate change. Imagine the difference we can make if we unified in the same way we are now. And that’s my hope.”
MENTAL HEALTH COULD GET BETTER: “What I’m really concerned about is the mental health crisis that might come out of this. But what we’re doing now is creating resilience. Something like this shows that you that you can appreciate the little things. So manage your mental health. Keep managing your mental health. Keep your stress bucket empty. We’ll get through this together. All of us.”
Enjoyed that? Want to read more predictions, or other articles from the ‘What The World Thinks’ article series? Well, here’s some more on Medium for you…
Want to hear the people giving their predictions? You can find the predictions on episode 1 of What The World Thinks, available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Simplecast (for desktop listening).
Thank you to those who shared their thoughts (in order of appearance):
Ed Kirwan, Founder of Empathy Week (empathy-week.com)
Elliot Kay, MD and Lead Trainer of Speaker Express (speakerexpress.co.uk)
Devon Pearce
Sam (surname redacted)
Shereen Daniels, MD of HR Rewired (hr-rewired.com)
Kurt Henderson, Co-Founder of Nava (usenava.com)
Tom Fairey, CEO of Stakester (stakester.com)
Gin Lalli, Psychotherapist (ginlalli.com)
