Commentary
How My Life Changed Because Of COVID
- by Maarten Albarda , Featured Contributor, July 8, 2022
Depending on who you ask, COVID is either behind us or taking a 'lil summer breather to pounce back once summer is over. It has had a huge impact on all our lives, and continues to do so, even if the current infection numbers are “low” and vaccines and medication have improved the situation. So I thought it would be interesting to take stock of how it impacted the lives of my household. Let’s compare notes.
First of all, our shopping habits have vastly changed. I used to love to walk the aisles of supermarkets to see what was new. I rarely do that anymore. When COVID hit, we started to order curbside pick-up, and we have not moved back. I find that the supermarket apps do a great job of saving me at least an hour of time, plus they show you new products and suggested items right in the app. The only time I walk into a grocery store is to shop for those “oops, we forgot XXX” items that always seem to crop up. Or to get one or two specialty items that our regular grocer does not stock.
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Number two is that we have become full-time streamers. We ditched the cable (I wrote about that here.) All our TVs have been “Roku-ed,” after being a mishmash of technologies before. It has been remarkably easy to switch. We did add a simple antenna to most of our TVs so that we can see what is on offer for free “over the air” (the answer is: “not much, but hey, it is free”).
Radio is played from a phone or Alexa (mostly in the kitchen). We love the “Flash Briefing” option, which is a self-curated news line-up that automatically plays the latest news updates from self-selected stations/providers. We like being in our bubble.
Number three is reduced travel. It seems that the days of weekly or almost-weekly business trips is behind us. It's more of a monthly occurrence now. I have worked on projects where I have never met the client in person (even over a two-year period). In the pre-COVID days, that would have been unspeakable in consultant land, but now it seems perfectly normal. It could be just be my clients or my personal business. But I have heard it from others in the industry as well, and business travel apparently is still 30% behind pre-COVID times.
And finally: reading. I recently spent a good few hours weeding out subscriptions to newsletters. I think that during COVID I suffered a bit from overenthusiasm and clicked “sure, get me that every week” a few too many times. But now that many “normal life” activities have come back, I find I have less time and patience for some of the emailed news offerings. At the same time, certain offerings that I would not want to miss have become part of my daily diet. In general, newsletters have become one of my key news sources.
What else? My son did not have a graduation or a prom in 2020, but is making up for it as a newly minted 21-year-old junior at UNCW. Our 10-year wedding anniversary was celebrated at the 12.5-year point. And yes, we redecorated. I think COVID has created many “new normals,” and that includes how we live. What and how have you changed?
You sound like a very fortunate and wholly unsympathetic elitist. People like you are destroying the whole concept of human connection. I can't say I'm not jealous but as someone who has literally none of your advantages please accept the fact I find your post sadly without a shred of merit.
GOT THOSE COVID ECONOMY BLUES?
“Got those Inflation, Deflation, Stagflation, Economic Slowdown, Economic Showdown, Covid Economy Blues?”
To help people vent some of their frustrations about life during Covid, I have been writing a couple of poems about the Coronavirus.
Here is a link where you can see a poem/potential #SongLyrics I wrote a few weeks ago called “The Covid Economy Blues.”
https://www.prlog.org/12922478
And, over the past two plus years, I have also been writing and updating a poem called "The New Coronavirus Blues." You can see an early version of it in a book I wrote called "Crazy Robert's More Great Poems and Potential Song Lyrics" that you can download for a dollar on Amazon. (For the most recent version (updated again on July 6, 2022 as news of the BA.5 surges came out), you can contact me at 650-344-4405 (9am-6pm PDT).
How odd. Essentially all of the changes Maarten notes are due to the lockdowns and mandates, not directly due to covid.
How are your friends doing? Have you seen them lately? When do you plan to get out again and experience real life? I agree with other reader comments. The tragedy is that Covid created a very unsettled world that has led to a dictatorial lifestyle demanded by others and reduced the failure to communicate with one another. A common goal of success for each other has been ignored or lost in this centralist culture.
Dear Paul (and all other, angst-ridden readers and commenters):
My friends are doing fine. Some got ill, others did not. Most got vaccinated, some did not. Most did not believe the anti-covid, anti-vaccine, anti-common sense hype, but some did.
I have, mostly outdoors. It has been fun. We have also traveled (Portugal, The Netherlands, St. Lucia and for work DC monthly and Austin), and connected/reconnected with family near and far.
Fully engaged in real life, but thank you for your concern. Have been to outdoor concerts, festivals, restaurants, beer gardens, nature hikes.
I am so sorry to learn that you live in a country where that apparently is the norm. I assume it is China or North Korea, or possibly Russia? I am glad to see you have found a VPN solution to communicate with the rest of the world. Can we alert the CIA? Should we arrange a prisoner swap that would liberate you from your plight? Please let us know.
I am proud to be an American (first generation) and proud to be in a country where there is freedom of expression. Sad to see that if my experiences and perceptions and ideas do not match yours, I am, apparently "without a shred of merit." But in response, I can only say that most of these comments appear to have not a shred of merit to me.
(PS my wife has MS. So yeah... there is also the practical side of living with someone who has an auto-immune disease, meaning we have to be extra vigilant).