What did the Pandemic ruin?

[Dio]

Here is a thread to list and talk about the things that the pandemic have ruined. There are many things but I will list a couple of examples and add later when I think of more.

People's driving. I genuinely feel that people's driving has gotten worse after the pandemic. So many drive like buttholes now and have forgotten how to use indicators and road safety in general. It was great having the roads practically to myself during the lockdown but I think the fact many did not practice their skills has made most road users.

People's general attitude. Everyone in general seems just more miserable these days. I'm sure lockdowns have ruined people's mental health and have made them less civilised and sociable. I was lucky to live with 9 fun people during the lockdowns and didn't become ruined by it but I have noticed especially those who don't live with many others have been particularly affected. Some of my shut in gamer friends are exactly the same though and didn't mind the lockdown at all.

If you can think of anything the pandemic has ruined post below!

 

[LegendOfMeesh]

my social anxiety has gotten significantly worse through the pandemic, for sure.

 

[ArchAngel217]

BigBangs’s comeback was postponed for two years, and still they’ve gone silent after a single song. I was unable to visit Korea, and I still haven’t gone. Also because of it, I’m lacking in a whole bunch of social areas and had to learn a whole bunch of things the hard way.

 

[Fraxinus]

It really cemented society's dependence on the internet for communication and things probably won't go back to how they were before.

 

[TheGreatCthulhu]

Because of the pandemic, my wife and I never had our honeymoon, which we were going to spend in Japan.

We even had it saved up, then the pandemic hit, then that disappeared...

2-3 years of marriage, and my wife and I have yet to take our honeymoon. So I am a little bitter about it.

 

[NastyLesley]

I wasn't allowed to see my grandmother during her final days and most of the things I wanted to tell her went unsaid, that was a bit on the irksome.

 

[Dizzi]

manners and common sense....

 

[Vanessa28]

People's attitude in general. It seems like they got nothing nice to say anymore these days. Rude, rude and rude

 

[Spiritual Mask Salesman]

Dining in experiences. Some places in my city still don't do dining in anymore, or their hours permanently changed. A few fast food places remodeled to widen their drive thru lanes and completely got rid of their dining room.

The pandemic also ruined a few businesses, some places couldn't make it through and ended up shutting down for good.

I feel like it ruined my outlook on peoples sense of collective well being. I used to be pretty optimistic that sympathy would prevail in potential catastrophe, and humans would be willing to look out for each other. But then the pandemic happened, and at least in my city, even in my state, more people chose to disregard health guidelines than follow them, numerous times.

I also felt like it ruined my mental health because as mentioned already, before I used to very much be an optimist, but as the pandemic went on I became more depressed and cynical for a brief time.

 

[Jimmu]

I know a bunch of people who never got to go on their exchange year abroad because of the pandemic and their "exchange" was online - I think it really made a huge dent in the international education sector that will take a few years to heal. Also on the topic of education many children at all levels missed out on valuable years of their education that they will never get back - many didn't have access to the resources or support to complete the work from home that they would have done at school and I feel the full impact of that is yet to be seen.

It ruined countless businesses and relationships, the strict lockdowns in many places drove many into severe depression and some even to the extent of taking their own lives.

The youth of today will be paying back the debt accrued by governments during the pandemic for decades despite having already been in a pretty bad place compared to previous generations such as boomers who have now consolidated their wealth and will bear little to none of the responsibility to pay it back despite being the largest cohort that the lockdowns were protecting. I'm not saying the lockdowns were not the right thing to do in order to protect people's health - but governments should figure out some way to ensure that not just today's youth are the ones saddled with debt while the elderly continue to get favourable tax incentives to increase their property portfolios and build their wealth further on the backs of the younger generation renters who are also now paying back huge national debt. I suppose this point will vary dramatically by country.

It also pushed people further down the rabbit holes of conspiracy and groupthink while they had nothing better to do at home but view information served to them by algorithms designed to feed them with information that will push them into an echo chamber for profits on the back of increased view time. It showed that many people don't really care much for one another, for science, or for the truth. The impact on education I mentioned in the first paragraph will likely make this even worse going forward.

There are many more but these are just some of the points on the top of my head. I'll throw in one positive so it isn't all doom and gloom - I am glad that the pandemic expanded the ability to work from home and am glad this is still in place at my job because it saves me three hours of travel time every single day.