Not that you need a reminder, but March marks the fourth anniversary of the first COVID lockdowns implemented across the US. Of course, the pandemic would hit the world hard and really change the way we live our lives — even today.
It was with all that in mind that I searched through Reddit for a thread about the lasting impact of the pandemic, and came across this one from last year where the [now deleted] user asked: "What did the pandemic ruin more than we realize?
The thread went very, very viral getting over 27K comments. Below are the top, best, and most often repeated comments (that I bet you'll agree with):
1. "I'm not sure if anyone else feels the same way, but my perception of time hasn't really returned back to normal since then."
2. "This might just be local, but where I live, a SHIT ton of businesses closed. I mean, half of them were closed. Not just because of the shutdown, they were closed permanently."
3. "As a teacher, I can say that it’s definitely affected kids in a way people don’t realize. Kids who had their first year of school (or even second) during the pandemic act quite different than kids who had a normal introduction to school. Many of them seem to have fewer social skills and higher anxiety than kids from previous years."
4. "The health system is wrecked. Way too many nurses got burnt out and left the profession."
5. "My perception on money. I worked so hard to pay off debt, save up for a new house, get promotions. Now, with the rise of housing costs and inflation I feel like money is literally such a made-up thing and I have no control over anything even with all the right decisions."
6. "Independent/smaller/DIY music venues never really recovered."
7. "People's driving is so out of wack, my only concern is to make it home in one piece."
8. "Used car market is completely f'd, as are flight prices."
9. "Night shift people's lives. Nothing is ever open late anymore."
10. "The lockdowns happened during my last semester of university. I've never had an in-person job, only work from home, which I realize is a blessing but also makes it feel like... IDK, like it's not real. I have no work friends, have never met my supervisor in person, I do all my work from my desk in my room. It feels like pretend."
11. "People seem so much shittier in large group public situations now. I don't know what it is, but etiquette in places like a movie theater used to be standard, but every experience I've had lately has been horrible. People talking, sitting there on their phones, and other just generally bad things."
12. "Price of eating out."
13. "I started to notice that people cough and sneeze without using their hand/arm and just do it into the open, into a room or hallway full of people, directly at people, when they wear a mask they would remove the mask before sneezing or coughing into the open — all without any remorse or understanding why this would be bad or generally why it would be disgusting, no matter if it’s during a pandemic or not. This still happens, daily I see someone doing it. It’s mind blowing to me, absolutely mind-blowing, considering what we all went through and why."
14. "The sense of security. I never know what’s around the corner anymore. It’s terrifying."
15. "My willingness to waste my life at an office when I can do the work just as well from home."
16. "Feels like it’s a more 'to each their own' sense of living. People don’t appear to be as connected as before the pandemic."
17. "Printed menus. Call me snarky but scrolling through your phone at dinner, whether with family or on a date, is shitty."
18. "Family relations. Vaxxed vs. anti-vax, mask vs no mask, Covid deniers vs. lockdown advocates. Fractured a lot of my family and many others."
19. "Supply chain. Just in time ordering was a bad idea to begin with, but trying to adapt to the new normal when you are used to full shelves to choose from is almost worse."
20. "The belief that Americans are able to come together in a crisis and be willing to make sacrifices for the greater good. We’ll never trust each other again."
21. "My social/work life, after living like a hermit for two years and working from home, it's taking me a long time to go out like before."
22. "It ruined me on traffic. For one glorious year, as an 'essential worker,' I had the roads almost entirely to myself, it was beautiful."
23. And lastly, "The cost of living is pretty f'd."
You can read the original thread on Reddit.
Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.