Our world is currently facing an abundance of changes because of COVID-19, and I believe many of the constraints are on society, the economy, and communication. The most impactful constraint for me personally is on society. There’s a higher risk of mortality for the elderly and the immunocompromised, therefore they’re facing a huge number of constraints in regards to who they can interact with and where they can go. There have also been numerous attacks, both verbal and physical, on Asians and Asian-Americans because of the virus. The virus has unfortunately heightened xenophobia and discrimination for the Asian community, not just in America but around the world. As an Asian-American, it’s extremely hard for me to hear about these horrible doings and I can’t help but fear for my family’s and other families’ safety.
Social media has a huge impact on how people view the news, and it was interesting to see people use humor to approach COVID-19 when it first started surfacing in China and Italy. I think a lot of people my age or younger took the virus as a joke in the beginning, which isn’t necessarily their fault as the media was talking about it pretty lightly. Maybe the weak foundation of primary knowledge in regards to COVID-19 is what prompted millennials to controversially continue going about their social activities for a while before finally slowing down.
There are definitely positive things that arose from these social constraints, though. I think many people are dedicating more of their time to health and fitness, as that’s one way of being active during social distancing. This is definitely beneficial to a lot of people, especially those who stay sitting at a desk for work five days a week or those who don’t have the time in their normal schedules to exercise. It is also amazing to see how social distancing and self-quarantine have been benefiting our environment.
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