New piece on hopefully hitting our social bottom during th pandemic.
Prior to the pandemic, one thing I certainly wouldn’t have thought to prescribe for our already socially malnourished culture was a massive infusion of “social distancing.”
Unless, of course, I was trying to kill it.
But maybe, witnessing a large-scale social breakdown during the pandemic — while we were at home experiencing our own — will prove to be just what the doctor ordered.
The pandemic pushed into stark relief what has long been building. Our social ties are weakening. Our social skills atrophying. Inequity is growing. Accountability is a memory. And real community has largely been replaced by personalized media streamed into the cocoons of our own cognition.
For a long time, this had been the developing story. With lockdown, many of us were suddenly pressing our faces up against it 24/7/365, without leaving the house. All while everything was quickly deteriorating.
