It is a well-known fact that humans are naturally social animals. Human contact and face to face - mask to mask rather - interactions are vital to our mental well being and sanity. After being apart from each other for months on end, we have lost touch with a sense of reality and real people. Staring at your friends and family through screens has taught us the importance of these loving relationships and maintaining them, but also, how awkward we would be once we started seeing these people in person again.
Our Biological and Psychological Needs
Humans naturally crave company and affection from others. . . including the most introverted person you know. Through evolution and science, humans are meant to be around people, or else their brains will begin to tell them that they feel threatened. In the hunting and gathering era - approximately 2 million years ago - humans survived by hunting large animals in groups. In short, fending off enemy or animal attacks alone triggered a threat within prehistoric human brains that evolved and permeated our brains today. When humans do not engage in social interactions for a long period of time, our brain revisits that feeling of threat because the interaction is a biological need like food and water.
Even though people were isolated at home for 3-5 months with our families or partners, there is still room for people to feel lonely because they would only have one type of interaction and would not have gotten a full scope of different interactions that you would get at school or working at the office. It is almost like you are not receiving a balanced meal. Like astronauts, prisoners, or hermits, without exercising your social self, you become weak and sick. Loneliness is a psychological symptom of corvid-19.
Humans need to feel a sense of belonging and community in order to feel like they have some purpose in society. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs displays how without interacting with friends and families in person, a person cannot move onto the next phase of psychological needs. Without sufficient interaction, our brain becomes weak and confused when we have to return to interacting with people at school or in public. Oddly enough, people become more vigilant, hostile, and sensitive when they begin to interact again.
Younger students and children are at most risk due to the fact that they cannot go traditionally interact with other children the way that they do. Their playtime is critical for their education, social, and psychological development. Without that, parents have another layer of stress to ensure that their needs are met.
Understanding and Dealing With Social Awkwardness
After being apart for so long, returning to the outside world adds stress - as well as an extra layer of stress because of the pandemic. With side-eyeing in public, to different people taking different precautions with the virus, to second-guessing your friends, to many other interactions, people tend to feel more self-conscious and nervous about verbally talking and physically interacting with others. Some professions that require people to work in remote and isolated areas have training for when it is time to return to a busier society. Usually, it is much easier to reintegrate back because they are the only person that is feeling overwhelmed, but now with this pandemic, everyone is feeling distressed.
Without knowing what the future will entail, it is imperative to realize that everyone across the world is feeling lonely, confused, and nervous about interacting with each other. Some people wear a mask, some do. Some are more carefree about living during a pandemic, some are indubitably stressed. Everyone has changed over their time of quarantine and isolation; it could be their personalities, values, or their confidence that has altered in one way or another. Keeping in touch and calling your loved ones helps slow down the feelings of social awkwardness when returning to physical interactions. Sometimes it is better to pick up the phone and call someone rather than text someone.
Despite how unnatural it is to be isolated for a long period of time, staying patient and showing understanding is another basic human value that everyone has, so it is crucial that people show that to one another now. As awkward as you might think you are, know that millions of other people feel the same way.
Sources:
Jennings, Rebecca. “Coronavirus Is Making Us All Socially Awkward.” Vox, Vox, 17 July 2020, www.vox.com/the-highlight/2020/7/17/21325931/covid-coronavirus-social-distancing-reopening-talk-awkward.
Murphy, Kate. “We're All Socially Awkward Now.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 1 Sept. 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/09/01/sunday-review/coronavirus-socially-awkward.html.
Stickley, Andrew, and Ai Koyanagi. “Physical Multimorbidity and Loneliness: A Population-Based Study.” PloS One, Public Library of Science, 24 Jan. 2018, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5783394/.
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