After nearly two years since lockdown for Covid-19 began, things have finally begun to start looking better with the widespread accessibility to vaccines and the reopening of schools and workplaces. Although this battle may be far from over, there are still hints that our social skills have really taken a hit because of quarantine. Social contact has been cut down and even completely cut out for many people over the past couple of years. We truly have all experienced a mild form of solitary confinement.

It is not a coincidence that many people have been experiencing what they consider awkward conversations more frequently as they return to the real world. Throughout most of our lives we have relied on natural social interaction with others nearly every day. However, the absence of such frequent interaction is what has caused us to struggle to hold normal and meaningful conversations with our peers at work or school.

Our bodies are not only being affected psychologically but also biologically. Research has proven that social isolation can affect a person’s sleep quality, accelerate cognitive decline, and cause an imbalance between oxidants and antioxidants. Children’s social skills seemed to be affected the most over the course of this pandemic. For most people, their brains developed to understand how to communicate with others as a child by recognizing facial expressions and reading lips. Unfortunately, a large group of children did not get that same experience over the past couple of years because of the pandemic, and now return to school forgetting how to properly interact with others.

The past couple of weeks have really made me realize that the pandemic truly has changed a lot of people’s social interaction. With OPS recently lifting the requirement to wear masks, it really made me take a step back and realize how strange my high school experience has been with being online or wearing a mask at school. It became so normal to me that I didn’t even think about it because of course I just wanted to stop the spread of the virus. Up until now, I had no idea what many of my classmates looked like and still don’t for some. Without being able to see people’s facial expressions, in a way my brain just filled in what I imagined they looked like based off their eyes.

Fortunately, researchers and psychologists have assured us that not all is lost. Although it may be difficult or frustrating for some to socialize right now, hope is there. Even if small steps are necessary, people will fall back into natural socialization with time and this pandemic can be forever left in the past.