Are you already tired of social distancing?
Have you had enough of trying to explain
video chats to your grandma?
Or pretending that you're going to use this
free time to get super jacked?
Sorry to break it to you,
but with increasing populations
and climate change
pandemics are likely to become more frequent,
which means that
this kind of social distancing
might become the new norm.
Staying away from other people
might not sound too bad to some of you.
But over time,
it can have some
pretty negative effects on your health.
Not only can it
increase your risk of depression,
but it can also lead to heart disease,
dementia, and death.
The good news is that
a lot of these negative effects
can be reduced through social contact with others.
No, this doesn't mean secretly
meeting up with people.
It means embracing all the forms of
digital communication we have at our fingertips.
If connecting digitally
becomes our new normal,
how would this affect the way we form and maintain relationships?
The internet allows us to stay in touch with,
and see the faces of loved ones that we
can't meet up with in person.
If social distancing became law,
these sorts of online interactions
would be important to our physical and mental health.
For example, during stressful times like these,
our heartbeat slows down
when we have a friend with us.
But even with all the communication apps out there,
technology can't replace
face-to-face interactions.
It's not as easy to understand
nonverbal behavior such as body language,
facial expressions,
and gestures during electronic meetings.
Plus, maintaining existing relationships
online might be easy,
but what about establishing brand new ones?
Like romantic ones?
Dating while social distancing
might sound impossible,
but it just means you'd have to put
the physical stuff on hold,
until you think they're worth
getting quarantined for, that is.
This might slow down the pace of dating,
which has been accelerated through the use of dating apps.
No more talking for a day, meeting up,
and moving on.
Now you'll be forced to take your time
with potential partners,
and have the patience to get
to know each other on a deeper level.
Maybe this would result in a more meaningful relationship,
if you're ever allowed to leave the house again.
But enough about you.
Let's head outside and see what effects
mandatory social distancing
would have on the rest of the world.
For one thing, some countries would impose
fines and even prison time
for people breaking social distancing.
During the 2020 pandemic,
people in Nova Scotia, Canada
could be fined up to $1,000 per day
for being in gatherings of more than five people.
Because of rules like this,
companies would have to get creative
with their operations,
especially businesses like restaurants and gyms.
Restaurants could transform into primarily
drive-through and delivery businesses,
but gyms would probably have a bigger
struggle trying to survive.
Sure, they could offer online workouts,
but that wouldn't replicate the equipment
and resources that their physical locations once offered.
Instead, people might start to get their
physical activity through more solitary activities
like hiking and surfing.
But there would have to be strict regulations
on how many people could be at a
specific spot at the same time.
On the bright side, with all these
new regulations to enforce,
a lot of new jobs will be created.
It would start with guards
being employed to make sure people
keep their distance,
but in the long term these new jobs
could come from developing new technology to track everyone.
And that's where this whole thing takes a
real dystopian turn.
Governments could use
facial recognition technology
to make sure that you
and everyone else sticks to the rules.
Cell phones could even be used
to set off a blaring alarm every time you got
within 1 m (3 ft) of another person.
Eventually, you could see our society
divided into different shifts,
to keep large amounts of people from gathering at once.
Just like shift work,
a "shift society" would mean that
only people from certain parts of the city
would be allowed to enter specific places
during set hours, or on specific days.
Some people might work at the office on Monday and Wednesday,
and others on Tuesday and Thursday.
With all this isolation,
people would start to develop agorophobia.
This is essentially a fear of other people,
and of leaving your home.
Maybe this could lead to the construction of virtual reality worlds,
where everything is simulated.
These worlds could be so realistic that
you'd lose sight of what's real and what's pretend.
But that's a story for another WHAT IF.