Given the limited social skills of many in our modern workplaces and society, I can’t help but to wonder about any long-term collective
effect of the current Corona Virus threat (COVID-19 threat) on the minds of today’s
young people - young people who will comprise the workplaces of the future. Most of my concern includes
the effect on the social abilities of young folks of a certain age with the intellect
to perceive the threat but without the ability or wisdom to actually comprehend
any such real-time viral threat. Like…,
what will be the overall effect on the social skills of young people who
might be developing their cognitive and adult social abilities in a time
wherein they are being warned that passing too close to another person could
essentially kill both themselves and the stranger without anyone being the
wiser. My concern led me to blog,
because I’m curious as to what the young are being told about these virus fears
as well as what messages they are not hearing, given prior social trends
of past decades which promulgated fear upon everyone and especially the young.
During my middle-school years of decades ago, children of that era
had to worry about the effects of warnings which included “six minutes to
nuclear winter” – whatever that actually meant.
Throughout my impressionable years living in the suburban shadow
of Washington, DC, young folks of that time more or less believed that such a
stated threat of “six minutes to nuclear winter” meant that with the passage of
any given six minute time span, the world might no longer exist as it had to
that point in time – if not all human life to end in six minutes, at least in
our geographic area. Or so many of us
young folks of the time learned and/or were led to believe.
The apparent long-term effect on those of my ilk
seemed to be that to envision or to work towards any long-term goals would
likely be a waste of time and effort.
Hence, many of that era seemed to end up with no ambition to endeavor towards
anything at all – as many seemingly never expected to live past the age of twenty.
And, few adults explained anything to us to the contrary – as maybe the adults
also were fearful of the unknown “six minutes to nuclear winter.”
Then, about a decade later during the time of my college years, the faces of missing children
began to be posted on milk cartons. Such
led to the apparent paranoia of mothers and parents everywhere regarding nearly every
passing stranger. Of course, that
parental fear seemed to lead to limited social skills of the young children
of that time when those children mentally matured and entered the workforce - as we found out later. Much of the limited social abilities of those youths when they became
adults, I hypothesize, was likely a result of childhood fears of strangers. Because
the children’s parents taught the kids to irrationally fear all strangers
throughout those children's’ impressionable mental years.
It is true that, in my earlier years, children were also told not
to speak to strangers – of course. But
we were not taught to have any irrational or excessive fear of someone just
because that person was not personally known to us. Yet during the 1980s, when missing children were being shown to every parent and child as those folks ate
their morning breakfast, what could be expected to result other
than an excessive fear of strangers? Once
the children of those years came to actually emulate the fear of their parents
towards strangers, the stunted social skills of those matured children in
the workplace eventually became readily apparent. Because
the young people never learned how to productively interact with strangers, as they were taught from an early age to fear all strangers.
Those fears that were nurtured with the face of a missing
child on every milk carton seemed to grow exponentially, particularly as the threats were compounded
with the rise of the information age of the 1990’s and its sensationalized
media outlets competing for viewers. As
we all know, the lacking social skills of the youth of that time were
also exponentially compounded when our civilization’s electronic gadgetries immensely
rose in popularity. At that time and
forward to the present, the young, as well as everyone else, were rarely required
to actually deal with one another in a face-to-face and/or in-person manner. In the end, as many in the workplace are
aware, the social abilities of many workers are severely lacking, and
particularly so with the younger workers – as they rarely had to practice social
skills in their youth, say for example, on a long car ride with nothing but the others in
the car with which to entertain oneself. (That
is to say, now everyone just looks at stuff on their phones during car
rides.)
And finally to the point of this blog, with the corona virus
threat reportedly growing greater with every passing day, the young people
might be learning to fear strangers outright – as strangers now harbor the ability
to kill others with no one even knowing of the potential threat. This surely will not bode well for the
already stunted social skills of many in the nation.
I am forced to wonder if children and young people are being
taught that any modern virus threat is not due to the social nature and
friendliness of individuals as compared to the infectious nature of the virus
per se. Maybe there is no real
difference in the end. But there is
surely an inherent difference to which some young minds might not
comprehend.
I ponder this dilemma for many reasons. Schools are closed for the indefinite future –
even graduation ceremonies are being canceled.
Playgrounds, parks and beaches are closed. The populace is being told to stay indoors
and avoid all contact with everyone but “essential” businesses and persons. The press, media, and politicians seem to
remind everyone of the deadly virus threat to no end nearly every day. And we are personally reminded of our fears by having to wear masks whenever we go anywhere as if we are all in a hospital ward. Moreover, the children are not even allowed to attend school classes other than to do so remotely over the internet. As such,
what could be the long-term effects of such a reminder of this death-laden fear
of all strangers throughout every passing day on the impressionable minds of young
people?
Modernly with the Corona Virus fears ever present, when all
are being told to “stay at home” and that merely to go outside and to breathe
the air around us could pose a threat of death, such a threat could pose a
mind-boggling prospect to an adult, let alone a child. When this threat is extended to school children,
school classrooms, playgrounds, and classmates, then such fears also surely has
to affect the outlook of a child who may not understand the reasons for it all.
I fear that in the end, not merely may the upbringing of
young people lead to the compounding of any stunted social skills which may
have developed in days of yesteryear, I have to wonder if the social abilities
of today’s young people will essentially be nonexistent in the future due to
any youthful terror associated with strangers – in the vein of any long-standing
social paranoia of lack of modern practice of socializing, as described above.
My generalized fears of the effect of virus threats on the
minds and social abilities of young folks could well become moot, if the virus
pandemic threat passes relatively quickly.
And maybe I’m over-reacting with this blog entry, as a relatively short virus
threat might not instill a long-term sense of fear in peoples’ minds after the Corona
Virus / COVID-19 threat subsides. But
nevertheless, I am concerned with any long-term effects on social skills of
those subjected to never-ending fears of this latest virus pandemic, regardless
of the length of the threat. Because my
concern is of the effect upon those who may not really have awareness of how
folks are expected to behave towards one another to begin with, anyhow.
In the end, I would hope that folks who interact with young
persons take the time to explain that this virus and its threats are not reasons
to be rude or to maintain an irrational fear of strangers. Because, as argued herein, the social skills
of many people have already taken significant setbacks over recent decades for
possibly less valid paranoia of those bygone days.
In a world where common decency, friendliness, compassion, and
tolerance towards others seems to be at a premium, maybe it's time to teach the
young people how to be social again. As
an example, I would suggest, that we don’t merely think the lack of these
simple human qualities only appears in others.
I would further suggest understanding how these issues appear in
ourselves and try to inform our young people how we ourselves could be better towards others than we have been in the past. Because I also know that people tend to blame
others for their own shortcomings (a subject for another blog, no doubt).
Instead of trying to close the minds of the youth with fear
of strangers or fear of the virus or whatever – intentionally or otherwise, try to enlighten
the minds of the youth to the benefits of better social skills, if nothing more. The society of the future and its workplaces will
likely be grateful to anyone for doing so now.
Adam Trotter (COVID-19/Corona Virus type of April 2020.)
