Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I work in education and people who came of age and were still in K-12 or college during COVID are developmentally stunted. They don't seem to have coping or problem solving skills and ignore deadlines and have trouble taking initiative.

We’re moving school districts next summer and are holding our daughter back - she’s young for her class and has diagnosed learning disabilities, and covid was a huge challenge to her learning.

I don’t know why it’s so difficult for people to acknowledge the intense trauma we all experienced. Just because some of us coped better or were less materially affected does not invalidate other people’s experiences. I guess that’s another fun legacy of covid: a notable decrease in empathy and compassion. Ironically.

But so much if it was self inflicted. That doesn’t make everyone a victim. People went way overboard and now have to suffer the consequences.

NP. You highlight what has caused is shift in my worldview from which I am having trouble recovering. You think that people went "overboard" by following public health advice, taking COVID seriously as a health risk, and trying to do their part to avoid spreading it when certain members of the community were at greater risk. Your "overboard" was my trying to be a decent human being. The new narrative is that any fallout from restricted activities or isolation was self-inflicted and, therefore, not worth acknowledging or addressing.

I'll say that my view of "experts" in various realms has become increasingly distrustful. This is particularly true with those in public health and education, where experts offered assurances that were solely focused on maintaining desired outcomes without honest acknowledgment or discussion of potential long-term consequences.

At some point common sense should have been restored. Some of the measures and actions were ridiculous and should have been obvious. Children never needed to be banned from playgrounds, masks weren’t needed on solo runs in suburban neighborhoods. I lived in a place where police were called on kids playing at a park. So we moved. A whole lot of this never made much sense and shockingly a lot of people blindly followed along and gleefully shamed their neighbors who weren’t in lock step. It’s hard to muster sympathy now.

I agree with both of these sentiments. I feel duped for trying to be a good human and follow the public health rules. Only to have the goal posts constantly moved, get strangely more restrictive post-vaccine, but executed in an inconsistent manner. Example: Bars and restaurants? We’re opening those $$. Schools? Nope. Too dangerous.

Huh?

Protests for COVID restrictions? Super spreader event. Protests because of racial inequity? Those are ok because racial inequity is a bigger public health problem.

Huh? But it’s still a protest!? (Look it up, the public health experts actually said this)

And I’m no conservative. Not even close.

So… where this leads me is my current state. I also don’t trust “experts” at the moment. Experts are just humans with opinions that are based on current knowledge of a particular field, but they aren’t smarter and they certainly aren’t clairvoyant. In fact, many of the public health foot soldiers are young and inexperienced and just repeating what was in their text books.

I also don’t trust teacher’s unions, school boards nor any politician of any stripes from any party. All of these people are also just regular old humans. No special edge, vision or insight. In fact, many of them seem quite dumb in retrospect.

Jaded. Someone else said that. That’s what it is for me. Jaded.

Schools WERE open.

Maybe where you were. But not everywhere.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I work in education and people who came of age and were still in K-12 or college during COVID are developmentally stunted. They don't seem to have coping or problem solving skills and ignore deadlines and have trouble taking initiative.

We’re moving school districts next summer and are holding our daughter back - she’s young for her class and has diagnosed learning disabilities, and covid was a huge challenge to her learning.

I don’t know why it’s so difficult for people to acknowledge the intense trauma we all experienced. Just because some of us coped better or were less materially affected does not invalidate other people’s experiences. I guess that’s another fun legacy of covid: a notable decrease in empathy and compassion. Ironically.

But so much if it was self inflicted. That doesn’t make everyone a victim. People went way overboard and now have to suffer the consequences.

NP. You highlight what has caused is shift in my worldview from which I am having trouble recovering. You think that people went "overboard" by following public health advice, taking COVID seriously as a health risk, and trying to do their part to avoid spreading it when certain members of the community were at greater risk. Your "overboard" was my trying to be a decent human being. The new narrative is that any fallout from restricted activities or isolation was self-inflicted and, therefore, not worth acknowledging or addressing.

I'll say that my view of "experts" in various realms has become increasingly distrustful. This is particularly true with those in public health and education, where experts offered assurances that were solely focused on maintaining desired outcomes without honest acknowledgment or discussion of potential long-term consequences.

At some point common sense should have been restored. Some of the measures and actions were ridiculous and should have been obvious. Children never needed to be banned from playgrounds, masks weren’t needed on solo runs in suburban neighborhoods. I lived in a place where police were called on kids playing at a park. So we moved. A whole lot of this never made much sense and shockingly a lot of people blindly followed along and gleefully shamed their neighbors who weren’t in lock step. It’s hard to muster sympathy now.

I agree with both of these sentiments. I feel duped for trying to be a good human and follow the public health rules. Only to have the goal posts constantly moved, get strangely more restrictive post-vaccine, but executed in an inconsistent manner. Example: Bars and restaurants? We’re opening those $$. Schools? Nope. Too dangerous.

Huh?

Protests for COVID restrictions? Super spreader event. Protests because of racial inequity? Those are ok because racial inequity is a bigger public health problem.

Huh? But it’s still a protest!? (Look it up, the public health experts actually said this)

And I’m no conservative. Not even close.

So… where this leads me is my current state. I also don’t trust “experts” at the moment. Experts are just humans with opinions that are based on current knowledge of a particular field, but they aren’t smarter and they certainly aren’t clairvoyant. In fact, many of the public health foot soldiers are young and inexperienced and just repeating what was in their text books.

I also don’t trust teacher’s unions, school boards nor any politician of any stripes from any party. All of these people are also just regular old humans. No special edge, vision or insight. In fact, many of them seem quite dumb in retrospect.

Jaded. Someone else said that. That’s what it is for me. Jaded.

Schools WERE open.

I have to stop and wonder what it's like at home if kids are so miserable being at home. We had our kids in virtual for 3+ years. It worked out well. I lost a parent to covid. Stop acting like covid is no big deal. Its still impacting many.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I work in education and people who came of age and were still in K-12 or college during COVID are developmentally stunted. They don't seem to have coping or problem solving skills and ignore deadlines and have trouble taking initiative.

We’re moving school districts next summer and are holding our daughter back - she’s young for her class and has diagnosed learning disabilities, and covid was a huge challenge to her learning.

I don’t know why it’s so difficult for people to acknowledge the intense trauma we all experienced. Just because some of us coped better or were less materially affected does not invalidate other people’s experiences. I guess that’s another fun legacy of covid: a notable decrease in empathy and compassion. Ironically.

But so much if it was self inflicted. That doesn’t make everyone a victim. People went way overboard and now have to suffer the consequences.

NP. You highlight what has caused is shift in my worldview from which I am having trouble recovering. You think that people went "overboard" by following public health advice, taking COVID seriously as a health risk, and trying to do their part to avoid spreading it when certain members of the community were at greater risk. Your "overboard" was my trying to be a decent human being. The new narrative is that any fallout from restricted activities or isolation was self-inflicted and, therefore, not worth acknowledging or addressing.

I'll say that my view of "experts" in various realms has become increasingly distrustful. This is particularly true with those in public health and education, where experts offered assurances that were solely focused on maintaining desired outcomes without honest acknowledgment or discussion of potential long-term consequences.

At some point common sense should have been restored. Some of the measures and actions were ridiculous and should have been obvious. Children never needed to be banned from playgrounds, masks weren’t needed on solo runs in suburban neighborhoods. I lived in a place where police were called on kids playing at a park. So we moved. A whole lot of this never made much sense and shockingly a lot of people blindly followed along and gleefully shamed their neighbors who weren’t in lock step. It’s hard to muster sympathy now.

I agree with both of these sentiments. I feel duped for trying to be a good human and follow the public health rules. Only to have the goal posts constantly moved, get strangely more restrictive post-vaccine, but executed in an inconsistent manner. Example: Bars and restaurants? We’re opening those $$. Schools? Nope. Too dangerous.

Huh?

Protests for COVID restrictions? Super spreader event. Protests because of racial inequity? Those are ok because racial inequity is a bigger public health problem.

Huh? But it’s still a protest!? (Look it up, the public health experts actually said this)

And I’m no conservative. Not even close.

So… where this leads me is my current state. I also don’t trust “experts” at the moment. Experts are just humans with opinions that are based on current knowledge of a particular field, but they aren’t smarter and they certainly aren’t clairvoyant. In fact, many of the public health foot soldiers are young and inexperienced and just repeating what was in their text books.

I also don’t trust teacher’s unions, school boards nor any politician of any stripes from any party. All of these people are also just regular old humans. No special edge, vision or insight. In fact, many of them seem quite dumb in retrospect.

Jaded. Someone else said that. That’s what it is for me. Jaded.

And I'll add: Recognizing the simple-minded selfishness and ignorance of people like you out there, in such numbers as you are, has been absolutely eye-opening for me. People like you are serving on juries and doing other important things. And that's terrifying.

LOL. Thanks for explaining science to me. I see the pandemic has also affected you. You seem angry, mean-spirited and impatient. Unless you were always like that, I’ll just assume we’re more alike than you’d hoped.

DP. I'm confused. The add in comment - is that from the "jaded" poster or someone else?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I work in education and people who came of age and were still in K-12 or college during COVID are developmentally stunted. They don't seem to have coping or problem solving skills and ignore deadlines and have trouble taking initiative.

We’re moving school districts next summer and are holding our daughter back - she’s young for her class and has diagnosed learning disabilities, and covid was a huge challenge to her learning.

I don’t know why it’s so difficult for people to acknowledge the intense trauma we all experienced. Just because some of us coped better or were less materially affected does not invalidate other people’s experiences. I guess that’s another fun legacy of covid: a notable decrease in empathy and compassion. Ironically.

But so much if it was self inflicted. That doesn’t make everyone a victim. People went way overboard and now have to suffer the consequences.

NP. You highlight what has caused is shift in my worldview from which I am having trouble recovering. You think that people went "overboard" by following public health advice, taking COVID seriously as a health risk, and trying to do their part to avoid spreading it when certain members of the community were at greater risk. Your "overboard" was my trying to be a decent human being. The new narrative is that any fallout from restricted activities or isolation was self-inflicted and, therefore, not worth acknowledging or addressing.

I'll say that my view of "experts" in various realms has become increasingly distrustful. This is particularly true with those in public health and education, where experts offered assurances that were solely focused on maintaining desired outcomes without honest acknowledgment or discussion of potential long-term consequences.

At some point common sense should have been restored. Some of the measures and actions were ridiculous and should have been obvious. Children never needed to be banned from playgrounds, masks weren’t needed on solo runs in suburban neighborhoods. I lived in a place where police were called on kids playing at a park. So we moved. A whole lot of this never made much sense and shockingly a lot of people blindly followed along and gleefully shamed their neighbors who weren’t in lock step. It’s hard to muster sympathy now.

I agree with both of these sentiments. I feel duped for trying to be a good human and follow the public health rules. Only to have the goal posts constantly moved, get strangely more restrictive post-vaccine, but executed in an inconsistent manner. Example: Bars and restaurants? We’re opening those $$. Schools? Nope. Too dangerous.

Huh?

Protests for COVID restrictions? Super spreader event. Protests because of racial inequity? Those are ok because racial inequity is a bigger public health problem.

Huh? But it’s still a protest!? (Look it up, the public health experts actually said this)

And I’m no conservative. Not even close.

So… where this leads me is my current state. I also don’t trust “experts” at the moment. Experts are just humans with opinions that are based on current knowledge of a particular field, but they aren’t smarter and they certainly aren’t clairvoyant. In fact, many of the public health foot soldiers are young and inexperienced and just repeating what was in their text books.

I also don’t trust teacher’s unions, school boards nor any politician of any stripes from any party. All of these people are also just regular old humans. No special edge, vision or insight. In fact, many of them seem quite dumb in retrospect.

Jaded. Someone else said that. That’s what it is for me. Jaded.

And I'll add: Recognizing the simple-minded selfishness and ignorance of people like you out there, in such numbers as you are, has been absolutely eye-opening for me. People like you are serving on juries and doing other important things. And that's terrifying.

LOL. Thanks for explaining science to me. I see the pandemic has also affected you. You seem angry, mean-spirited and impatient. Unless you were always like that, I’ll just assume we’re more alike than you’d hoped.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I work in education and people who came of age and were still in K-12 or college during COVID are developmentally stunted. They don't seem to have coping or problem solving skills and ignore deadlines and have trouble taking initiative.

We’re moving school districts next summer and are holding our daughter back - she’s young for her class and has diagnosed learning disabilities, and covid was a huge challenge to her learning.

I don’t know why it’s so difficult for people to acknowledge the intense trauma we all experienced. Just because some of us coped better or were less materially affected does not invalidate other people’s experiences. I guess that’s another fun legacy of covid: a notable decrease in empathy and compassion. Ironically.

But so much if it was self inflicted. That doesn’t make everyone a victim. People went way overboard and now have to suffer the consequences.

NP. You highlight what has caused is shift in my worldview from which I am having trouble recovering. You think that people went "overboard" by following public health advice, taking COVID seriously as a health risk, and trying to do their part to avoid spreading it when certain members of the community were at greater risk. Your "overboard" was my trying to be a decent human being. The new narrative is that any fallout from restricted activities or isolation was self-inflicted and, therefore, not worth acknowledging or addressing.

I'll say that my view of "experts" in various realms has become increasingly distrustful. This is particularly true with those in public health and education, where experts offered assurances that were solely focused on maintaining desired outcomes without honest acknowledgment or discussion of potential long-term consequences.

At some point common sense should have been restored. Some of the measures and actions were ridiculous and should have been obvious. Children never needed to be banned from playgrounds, masks weren’t needed on solo runs in suburban neighborhoods. I lived in a place where police were called on kids playing at a park. So we moved. A whole lot of this never made much sense and shockingly a lot of people blindly followed along and gleefully shamed their neighbors who weren’t in lock step. It’s hard to muster sympathy now.

I agree with both of these sentiments. I feel duped for trying to be a good human and follow the public health rules. Only to have the goal posts constantly moved, get strangely more restrictive post-vaccine, but executed in an inconsistent manner. Example: Bars and restaurants? We’re opening those $$. Schools? Nope. Too dangerous.

Huh?

Protests for COVID restrictions? Super spreader event. Protests because of racial inequity? Those are ok because racial inequity is a bigger public health problem.

Huh? But it’s still a protest!? (Look it up, the public health experts actually said this)

And I’m no conservative. Not even close.

So… where this leads me is my current state. I also don’t trust “experts” at the moment. Experts are just humans with opinions that are based on current knowledge of a particular field, but they aren’t smarter and they certainly aren’t clairvoyant. In fact, many of the public health foot soldiers are young and inexperienced and just repeating what was in their text books.

I also don’t trust teacher’s unions, school boards nor any politician of any stripes from any party. All of these people are also just regular old humans. No special edge, vision or insight. In fact, many of them seem quite dumb in retrospect.

Jaded. Someone else said that. That’s what it is for me. Jaded.

And I'll add: Recognizing the simple-minded selfishness and ignorance of people like you out there, in such numbers as you are, has been absolutely eye-opening for me. People like you are serving on juries and doing other important things. And that's terrifying.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I work in education and people who came of age and were still in K-12 or college during COVID are developmentally stunted. They don't seem to have coping or problem solving skills and ignore deadlines and have trouble taking initiative.

We’re moving school districts next summer and are holding our daughter back - she’s young for her class and has diagnosed learning disabilities, and covid was a huge challenge to her learning.

I don’t know why it’s so difficult for people to acknowledge the intense trauma we all experienced. Just because some of us coped better or were less materially affected does not invalidate other people’s experiences. I guess that’s another fun legacy of covid: a notable decrease in empathy and compassion. Ironically.

But so much if it was self inflicted. That doesn’t make everyone a victim. People went way overboard and now have to suffer the consequences.

NP. You highlight what has caused is shift in my worldview from which I am having trouble recovering. You think that people went "overboard" by following public health advice, taking COVID seriously as a health risk, and trying to do their part to avoid spreading it when certain members of the community were at greater risk. Your "overboard" was my trying to be a decent human being. The new narrative is that any fallout from restricted activities or isolation was self-inflicted and, therefore, not worth acknowledging or addressing.

I'll say that my view of "experts" in various realms has become increasingly distrustful. This is particularly true with those in public health and education, where experts offered assurances that were solely focused on maintaining desired outcomes without honest acknowledgment or discussion of potential long-term consequences.

At some point common sense should have been restored. Some of the measures and actions were ridiculous and should have been obvious. Children never needed to be banned from playgrounds, masks weren’t needed on solo runs in suburban neighborhoods. I lived in a place where police were called on kids playing at a park. So we moved. A whole lot of this never made much sense and shockingly a lot of people blindly followed along and gleefully shamed their neighbors who weren’t in lock step. It’s hard to muster sympathy now.

I agree with both of these sentiments. I feel duped for trying to be a good human and follow the public health rules. Only to have the goal posts constantly moved, get strangely more restrictive post-vaccine, but executed in an inconsistent manner. Example: Bars and restaurants? We’re opening those $$. Schools? Nope. Too dangerous.

Huh?

Protests for COVID restrictions? Super spreader event. Protests because of racial inequity? Those are ok because racial inequity is a bigger public health problem.

Huh? But it’s still a protest!? (Look it up, the public health experts actually said this)

And I’m no conservative. Not even close.

So… where this leads me is my current state. I also don’t trust “experts” at the moment. Experts are just humans with opinions that are based on current knowledge of a particular field, but they aren’t smarter and they certainly aren’t clairvoyant. In fact, many of the public health foot soldiers are young and inexperienced and just repeating what was in their text books.

I also don’t trust teacher’s unions, school boards nor any politician of any stripes from any party. All of these people are also just regular old humans. No special edge, vision or insight. In fact, many of them seem quite dumb in retrospect.

Jaded. Someone else said that. That’s what it is for me. Jaded.

You say jaded. I say ignorant and self-absorbed. The "moving goalposts" is how science works. Even middle schoolers are taught the scientific method. The information was coming in and changing at a fast pace, thus changing the recommendations. That is LITERALLY how it is supposed to work.

The other stuff you mention . . . those are policy calls, not science. People and orgs had different risk tolerances. And as it became clear that masking and vax allowed more protections, some felt comfortable with being out more and some didn't.

THere is someone dumb here. But it's the person you see in the mirror.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of stuff just never restarted because of laziness. At my kids' ES alone, many field trips are not back yet, many of the assemblies/all-school gatherings are still not back, several grade-level musical performances are not back, field day and holiday celebrations are shadows of their former selves. None of this is due to fear of Covid. Its just shear laziness. Nobody can be bothered and its sad.

Same is true with neighborhood potlucks, wine clubs, poker clubs, book clubs, etc. Many aren't happening any more and the ones that are have a fraction of their former attendance. Again, not fear of Covid, just laziness and people's preference to just sit at home in their sweat pants. I'm not sure we will ever fully recover from that.

I have noticed the same and I agree. It seems like a fair number of people just don’t want to do anything anymore. It took the public libraries until literally LAST MONTH (September of 2023!) to get back to normal hours. I still don’t see as many preschool/little kid events there as I used to. There used to be a book club in my neighborhood, it stopped during Covid and never returned. The HOA used to put on a Christmas/holiday party - nothing big, just an indoor/outdoor thing at the clubhouse and in the parking lot, during the day for the kids to enjoy. Cancelled in 2020 and never returned.

It’s like we spent so long cooped up that we eventually came to prefer it + people are so burnt out after working and taking care of kids at the same time since schools and sometimes even day cares were closed, that no one has the energy to organize anything anymore.

Maybe people realized they were doing too much. Too much nonsense. Too much filling their lives with meaningless people and activities that kept you busy but didn’t really enrich your life. I don’t have room, time or patience for low value people in my life anymore. Covid helped me realize who and what was really important to me.

So, what do you do all the time? Stay home and only interact with your nuclear family? Sounds boring, but I’m guessing that you were always like this, so COVID didn’t change anything.

You are obviously trying to be argumentative, but when it comes to post-pandemic socialization, it's complicated. Some people who are prone to social anxiety found comfort in avoiding social situations and are now struggling to resume higher levels of social contact. Some initially felt the loss of socialization acutely but internalized the message that prolonged isolation was necessary to prevent the spread of COVID, until they lost touch with the part of themselves that craved social interactions. As a result, social events no longer feel worth the time and effort. There's also the division that began with Trump's election and continued through the pandemic and the fallout from George Floyd that fractured social groups and left people on edge for a variety of reasons. Some people who struggled during COVID, whether due to illness, job loss, or working and caring for young children, still feel wounded and unseen.

I can speak for myself and say that as someone who derived satisfaction from volunteering my time and participating in community activities, the lack of compassion I've seen in parts of my community left me feeling unmoored and detached. The need for belonging is an essential part of our well-being, both physical and mental. Recent events and isolation caused many to lose the connections that created a sense of belonging and gave their lives purpose.

I strongly believe that much of what people are calling laziness in both children and adults is simply a demonstration of loneliness and purposelessness in a world that no longer makes sense. People are still trying to figure out an answer to the question, "What's the point?" Without a sense of belonging, motivation suffers.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of stuff just never restarted because of laziness. At my kids' ES alone, many field trips are not back yet, many of the assemblies/all-school gatherings are still not back, several grade-level musical performances are not back, field day and holiday celebrations are shadows of their former selves. None of this is due to fear of Covid. Its just shear laziness. Nobody can be bothered and its sad.

Same is true with neighborhood potlucks, wine clubs, poker clubs, book clubs, etc. Many aren't happening any more and the ones that are have a fraction of their former attendance. Again, not fear of Covid, just laziness and people's preference to just sit at home in their sweat pants. I'm not sure we will ever fully recover from that.

I have noticed the same and I agree. It seems like a fair number of people just don’t want to do anything anymore. It took the public libraries until literally LAST MONTH (September of 2023!) to get back to normal hours. I still don’t see as many preschool/little kid events there as I used to. There used to be a book club in my neighborhood, it stopped during Covid and never returned. The HOA used to put on a Christmas/holiday party - nothing big, just an indoor/outdoor thing at the clubhouse and in the parking lot, during the day for the kids to enjoy. Cancelled in 2020 and never returned.

It’s like we spent so long cooped up that we eventually came to prefer it + people are so burnt out after working and taking care of kids at the same time since schools and sometimes even day cares were closed, that no one has the energy to organize anything anymore.

Yes to all of this. I think this is one reason why it can really vary by person as to whether they feel everything has shifted post-Covid. I think some communities/schools have recovered and gone back to normal, but not all. Mine definitely isn't. I am one of the people who used to plan and participate more pre-Covid and I struggle so much more now. I'm so tired and my mental health isn't as good as it used to be, so I've just dropped the ball on more things because I don't have the energy or mental bandwidth. I think many others are the same. I don't blame anyone. I think Covid hit some communities a lot harder in terms of what we went through, and that has impacted it. The communities where everything is "back to normal" I think probably were less scathed in terms of not just death and illness, but also probably didn't deal with as much of the stress of being in frontline jobs, having kids home for extended periods, maybe had fewer dual income families where both parents had to work, etc. We have friends who have SAHPs, were able to spend much of Covid at second houses, or have kids in privates that reopened quickly, etc., and they are, I think, more over Covid and don't feel the same aftereffects.

Also some communities (including ours) were more impacted by a lot of the conversation around police violence, racism, etc. Those conversations needed to happen but haven't always been handled well or made things better (there is a level of "open wound" that we can't seem to heal) and it all adds to more stress. More homogeneous or privileged communities might not deal with as much of that.

Yeah the George Floyd stuff happening at the same time as Covid was so rough. I had a social group implode because of it. not because of difficulties/disagreements between people in the group, but because the group’s parent org didn’t handle the overall situation in the best way and people knee-jerk reacted by disbanding their own chapters of the larger group. We used to raise money for charitable orgs in the area and do donation drives - not anymore since the group disbanded.

That was the beginning of the end. Social gatherings were wrong and deadly, unless it was a BLM march. How stupid did they think everyone was? Life went back to normal after that.

No, it didn't.
School didn't fully open in person for another year after that.
Masks were still mandatory everywhere for almost a full year after that.
Large events, like college/pro sports, plays, concerts, movie theaters, etc. didn't start happening for quite a while after that.

Speak for yourself. My kids were back in school in Sept 2020. In person. Like many places in the US. We moved from a stifling bubble that stay closed well into 2021, which was insane, but we made the right decision. Everywhere isn't like your corner of the woods. Large events were also ongoing. Remember Super Bowl 2021? Some of you have amnesia about how much was actually going on around you.

Around here it did not go back in September 2020 for public schools.
Superbowl 2021 was at more than SEVEN MONTHS after George Floyd was killed. You have trouble understanding a basic calendar.

Hmmm the World Series happened in 2020, college football went on in 2020... a lot happened. Just because your school district and neighborhood locked down hard doesn't mean everywhere did. But, you stayed inside afraid to go out so you have no idea what was happening everywhere else. There is no collective, nationwide trauma over this, which is why you're struggling to find acknowledgment.

I think the overall point is that a lot of us were ready to be more relaxed about Covid by September 2020 and certainly by early spring 2021, but restrictions were still being forced on us even at that point. I’m glad you could move away from all the craziness but some of us couldn’t.

Also agree with others that it really did start when Trump got elected. I’m no fan of his and I didn’t vote for him and absolutely would not in the future. BUT, you can’t deny that some reactions - both from policymakers and individuals - were knee jerk against Trump. When he came out in summer 2020 and said schools should be open for the fall, I knew right then and there it wasn’t happening in liberal areas.

I feel bad for the people living under the draconian and senseless rules that dragged on for far too long, and yes, seemed very political more than sensible. But I don't feel sorry for the people complaining about their trauma, who insisted on living that way, and don't want to talk about the mistakes that were made, but demand empathy and understanding for their (self inflicted) troubles. There will never be a reckoning, but that also means the sympathy well has dried up.

The resistance was entirely political . The guidance was based upon the best science available to public health professionals at the time.

^^^^^Facts.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I work in education and people who came of age and were still in K-12 or college during COVID are developmentally stunted. They don't seem to have coping or problem solving skills and ignore deadlines and have trouble taking initiative.

We’re moving school districts next summer and are holding our daughter back - she’s young for her class and has diagnosed learning disabilities, and covid was a huge challenge to her learning.

I don’t know why it’s so difficult for people to acknowledge the intense trauma we all experienced. Just because some of us coped better or were less materially affected does not invalidate other people’s experiences. I guess that’s another fun legacy of covid: a notable decrease in empathy and compassion. Ironically.

But so much if it was self inflicted. That doesn’t make everyone a victim. People went way overboard and now have to suffer the consequences.

NP. You highlight what has caused is shift in my worldview from which I am having trouble recovering. You think that people went "overboard" by following public health advice, taking COVID seriously as a health risk, and trying to do their part to avoid spreading it when certain members of the community were at greater risk. Your "overboard" was my trying to be a decent human being. The new narrative is that any fallout from restricted activities or isolation was self-inflicted and, therefore, not worth acknowledging or addressing.

I'll say that my view of "experts" in various realms has become increasingly distrustful. This is particularly true with those in public health and education, where experts offered assurances that were solely focused on maintaining desired outcomes without honest acknowledgment or discussion of potential long-term consequences.

At some point common sense should have been restored. Some of the measures and actions were ridiculous and should have been obvious. Children never needed to be banned from playgrounds, masks weren’t needed on solo runs in suburban neighborhoods. I lived in a place where police were called on kids playing at a park. So we moved. A whole lot of this never made much sense and shockingly a lot of people blindly followed along and gleefully shamed their neighbors who weren’t in lock step. It’s hard to muster sympathy now.

I agree with both of these sentiments. I feel duped for trying to be a good human and follow the public health rules. Only to have the goal posts constantly moved, get strangely more restrictive post-vaccine, but executed in an inconsistent manner. Example: Bars and restaurants? We’re opening those $$. Schools? Nope. Too dangerous.

Huh?

Protests for COVID restrictions? Super spreader event. Protests because of racial inequity? Those are ok because racial inequity is a bigger public health problem.

Huh? But it’s still a protest!? (Look it up, the public health experts actually said this)

And I’m no conservative. Not even close.

So… where this leads me is my current state. I also don’t trust “experts” at the moment. Experts are just humans with opinions that are based on current knowledge of a particular field, but they aren’t smarter and they certainly aren’t clairvoyant. In fact, many of the public health foot soldiers are young and inexperienced and just repeating what was in their text books.

I also don’t trust teacher’s unions, school boards nor any politician of any stripes from any party. All of these people are also just regular old humans. No special edge, vision or insight. In fact, many of them seem quite dumb in retrospect.

Jaded. Someone else said that. That’s what it is for me. Jaded.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wonder if folks who feel some big shift have kids?

I have two in school and it’s like it never happened, thank god. I work in an in-person job which I prefer. Grateful I didn’t have an industry that stuck with remote work as I found it depressing and isolating. My spouse does have some lingering covid issues but they’re managed.

It feels like a distant haze and I guarantee you kids and teens never ever think about it and didn’t feel some big shift to them.

The shift isn't just thinking about the virus. My kids have been back to school and normal activities since 2021. It's the subtle shifts that were caused in society that we still haven't even felt the full impact of. For example, increased WFH, supply shortages and financial changes that led to inflation, people dropping out of the workforce (and now lack of workers in the service sector and healthcare), lack of trust in government, increased hostility, children who haven't ever recovered from the learning loss.

All of this. Virtual school hit in mid elementary and middle school for my kids in dcps and lasted far too long. It was a depressing time and hard to distract them. I missed visiting a dying parent. So many others had it far worse.

While I appreciate work from home as a late 40s mom, I feel for the twentysomethings who’ll miss the social aspects of working in person, dating, crushes, happy hrs. It feels like a relic from The Office, but was one of the best chapters of my life (despite difficult bosses, low pay, etc.)

Man, I relate to this post. Everything but the dying parent. I’m ready very sorry that happened to you. It was my biggest fear.

This thread is so helpful. I feel different too. Our lives are different. In many ways for the better. But I do think it was really hard for anyone who was an older teen or in college. That cohort seems to have really been messed up by the whole thing. The adults were acting so badly, too, so I’m sure they think we all suck. And many do!!

Anonymous wrote:Societal acceptance of video calls and remote work made huge advances.

I think in some ways we are better off. More remote work = less stress, traffic, pollution, expense, germs (not just covid). We learned from the experience (I hope). My day to day life is fine. My kids are catching up in school. I've reprioritized some things. Learned who is really there for you when the going gets tough.

Overall I'm in a better place now but it's a shame that had to come as a result of such a horrible, tragic situation.

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of stuff just never restarted because of laziness. At my kids' ES alone, many field trips are not back yet, many of the assemblies/all-school gatherings are still not back, several grade-level musical performances are not back, field day and holiday celebrations are shadows of their former selves. None of this is due to fear of Covid. Its just shear laziness. Nobody can be bothered and its sad.

Same is true with neighborhood potlucks, wine clubs, poker clubs, book clubs, etc. Many aren't happening any more and the ones that are have a fraction of their former attendance. Again, not fear of Covid, just laziness and people's preference to just sit at home in their sweat pants. I'm not sure we will ever fully recover from that.

I have noticed the same and I agree. It seems like a fair number of people just don’t want to do anything anymore. It took the public libraries until literally LAST MONTH (September of 2023!) to get back to normal hours. I still don’t see as many preschool/little kid events there as I used to. There used to be a book club in my neighborhood, it stopped during Covid and never returned. The HOA used to put on a Christmas/holiday party - nothing big, just an indoor/outdoor thing at the clubhouse and in the parking lot, during the day for the kids to enjoy. Cancelled in 2020 and never returned.

It’s like we spent so long cooped up that we eventually came to prefer it + people are so burnt out after working and taking care of kids at the same time since schools and sometimes even day cares were closed, that no one has the energy to organize anything anymore.

Yes to all of this. I think this is one reason why it can really vary by person as to whether they feel everything has shifted post-Covid. I think some communities/schools have recovered and gone back to normal, but not all. Mine definitely isn't. I am one of the people who used to plan and participate more pre-Covid and I struggle so much more now. I'm so tired and my mental health isn't as good as it used to be, so I've just dropped the ball on more things because I don't have the energy or mental bandwidth. I think many others are the same. I don't blame anyone. I think Covid hit some communities a lot harder in terms of what we went through, and that has impacted it. The communities where everything is "back to normal" I think probably were less scathed in terms of not just death and illness, but also probably didn't deal with as much of the stress of being in frontline jobs, having kids home for extended periods, maybe had fewer dual income families where both parents had to work, etc. We have friends who have SAHPs, were able to spend much of Covid at second houses, or have kids in privates that reopened quickly, etc., and they are, I think, more over Covid and don't feel the same aftereffects.

Also some communities (including ours) were more impacted by a lot of the conversation around police violence, racism, etc. Those conversations needed to happen but haven't always been handled well or made things better (there is a level of "open wound" that we can't seem to heal) and it all adds to more stress. More homogeneous or privileged communities might not deal with as much of that.

Yeah the George Floyd stuff happening at the same time as Covid was so rough. I had a social group implode because of it. not because of difficulties/disagreements between people in the group, but because the group’s parent org didn’t handle the overall situation in the best way and people knee-jerk reacted by disbanding their own chapters of the larger group. We used to raise money for charitable orgs in the area and do donation drives - not anymore since the group disbanded.

That was the beginning of the end. Social gatherings were wrong and deadly, unless it was a BLM march. How stupid did they think everyone was? Life went back to normal after that.

No, it didn't.
School didn't fully open in person for another year after that.
Masks were still mandatory everywhere for almost a full year after that.
Large events, like college/pro sports, plays, concerts, movie theaters, etc. didn't start happening for quite a while after that.

Speak for yourself. My kids were back in school in Sept 2020. In person. Like many places in the US. We moved from a stifling bubble that stay closed well into 2021, which was insane, but we made the right decision. Everywhere isn't like your corner of the woods. Large events were also ongoing. Remember Super Bowl 2021? Some of you have amnesia about how much was actually going on around you.

Around here it did not go back in September 2020 for public schools.
Superbowl 2021 was at more than SEVEN MONTHS after George Floyd was killed. You have trouble understanding a basic calendar.

Hmmm the World Series happened in 2020, college football went on in 2020... a lot happened. Just because your school district and neighborhood locked down hard doesn't mean everywhere did. But, you stayed inside afraid to go out so you have no idea what was happening everywhere else. There is no collective, nationwide trauma over this, which is why you're struggling to find acknowledgment.

I think the overall point is that a lot of us were ready to be more relaxed about Covid by September 2020 and certainly by early spring 2021, but restrictions were still being forced on us even at that point. I’m glad you could move away from all the craziness but some of us couldn’t.

Also agree with others that it really did start when Trump got elected. I’m no fan of his and I didn’t vote for him and absolutely would not in the future. BUT, you can’t deny that some reactions - both from policymakers and individuals - were knee jerk against Trump. When he came out in summer 2020 and said schools should be open for the fall, I knew right then and there it wasn’t happening in liberal areas.

I feel bad for the people living under the draconian and senseless rules that dragged on for far too long, and yes, seemed very political more than sensible. But I don't feel sorry for the people complaining about their trauma, who insisted on living that way, and don't want to talk about the mistakes that were made, but demand empathy and understanding for their (self inflicted) troubles. There will never be a reckoning, but that also means the sympathy well has dried up.

The resistance was entirely political . The guidance was based upon the best science available to public health professionals at the time.

It really wasn't, but keep telling yourself that so you don't realize what a huge mistake you made.

Well, for me , it is not in the rear view mirror.


I have COVID as I type this, that rebounded after getting it on vacation. It also killed my brother.

So, not some liberal conspiracy you idiots.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of stuff just never restarted because of laziness. At my kids' ES alone, many field trips are not back yet, many of the assemblies/all-school gatherings are still not back, several grade-level musical performances are not back, field day and holiday celebrations are shadows of their former selves. None of this is due to fear of Covid. Its just shear laziness. Nobody can be bothered and its sad.

Same is true with neighborhood potlucks, wine clubs, poker clubs, book clubs, etc. Many aren't happening any more and the ones that are have a fraction of their former attendance. Again, not fear of Covid, just laziness and people's preference to just sit at home in their sweat pants. I'm not sure we will ever fully recover from that.

I have noticed the same and I agree. It seems like a fair number of people just don’t want to do anything anymore. It took the public libraries until literally LAST MONTH (September of 2023!) to get back to normal hours. I still don’t see as many preschool/little kid events there as I used to. There used to be a book club in my neighborhood, it stopped during Covid and never returned. The HOA used to put on a Christmas/holiday party - nothing big, just an indoor/outdoor thing at the clubhouse and in the parking lot, during the day for the kids to enjoy. Cancelled in 2020 and never returned.

It’s like we spent so long cooped up that we eventually came to prefer it + people are so burnt out after working and taking care of kids at the same time since schools and sometimes even day cares were closed, that no one has the energy to organize anything anymore.

Yes to all of this. I think this is one reason why it can really vary by person as to whether they feel everything has shifted post-Covid. I think some communities/schools have recovered and gone back to normal, but not all. Mine definitely isn't. I am one of the people who used to plan and participate more pre-Covid and I struggle so much more now. I'm so tired and my mental health isn't as good as it used to be, so I've just dropped the ball on more things because I don't have the energy or mental bandwidth. I think many others are the same. I don't blame anyone. I think Covid hit some communities a lot harder in terms of what we went through, and that has impacted it. The communities where everything is "back to normal" I think probably were less scathed in terms of not just death and illness, but also probably didn't deal with as much of the stress of being in frontline jobs, having kids home for extended periods, maybe had fewer dual income families where both parents had to work, etc. We have friends who have SAHPs, were able to spend much of Covid at second houses, or have kids in privates that reopened quickly, etc., and they are, I think, more over Covid and don't feel the same aftereffects.

Also some communities (including ours) were more impacted by a lot of the conversation around police violence, racism, etc. Those conversations needed to happen but haven't always been handled well or made things better (there is a level of "open wound" that we can't seem to heal) and it all adds to more stress. More homogeneous or privileged communities might not deal with as much of that.

Yeah the George Floyd stuff happening at the same time as Covid was so rough. I had a social group implode because of it. not because of difficulties/disagreements between people in the group, but because the group’s parent org didn’t handle the overall situation in the best way and people knee-jerk reacted by disbanding their own chapters of the larger group. We used to raise money for charitable orgs in the area and do donation drives - not anymore since the group disbanded.

That was the beginning of the end. Social gatherings were wrong and deadly, unless it was a BLM march. How stupid did they think everyone was? Life went back to normal after that.

No, it didn't.
School didn't fully open in person for another year after that.
Masks were still mandatory everywhere for almost a full year after that.
Large events, like college/pro sports, plays, concerts, movie theaters, etc. didn't start happening for quite a while after that.

Speak for yourself. My kids were back in school in Sept 2020. In person. Like many places in the US. We moved from a stifling bubble that stay closed well into 2021, which was insane, but we made the right decision. Everywhere isn't like your corner of the woods. Large events were also ongoing. Remember Super Bowl 2021? Some of you have amnesia about how much was actually going on around you.

Around here it did not go back in September 2020 for public schools.
Superbowl 2021 was at more than SEVEN MONTHS after George Floyd was killed. You have trouble understanding a basic calendar.

Hmmm the World Series happened in 2020, college football went on in 2020... a lot happened. Just because your school district and neighborhood locked down hard doesn't mean everywhere did. But, you stayed inside afraid to go out so you have no idea what was happening everywhere else. There is no collective, nationwide trauma over this, which is why you're struggling to find acknowledgment.

I think the overall point is that a lot of us were ready to be more relaxed about Covid by September 2020 and certainly by early spring 2021, but restrictions were still being forced on us even at that point. I’m glad you could move away from all the craziness but some of us couldn’t.

Also agree with others that it really did start when Trump got elected. I’m no fan of his and I didn’t vote for him and absolutely would not in the future. BUT, you can’t deny that some reactions - both from policymakers and individuals - were knee jerk against Trump. When he came out in summer 2020 and said schools should be open for the fall, I knew right then and there it wasn’t happening in liberal areas.

I feel bad for the people living under the draconian and senseless rules that dragged on for far too long, and yes, seemed very political more than sensible. But I don't feel sorry for the people complaining about their trauma, who insisted on living that way, and don't want to talk about the mistakes that were made, but demand empathy and understanding for their (self inflicted) troubles. There will never be a reckoning, but that also means the sympathy well has dried up.

The resistance was entirely political . The guidance was based upon the best science available to public health professionals at the time.