{"id":9241,"date":"2020-07-27T09:00:22","date_gmt":"2020-07-27T16:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/?p=9241"},"modified":"2020-07-26T21:03:32","modified_gmt":"2020-07-27T04:03:32","slug":"on-the-path-to-social-dysfunction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/?p=9241","title":{"rendered":"On the Path to Social Dysfunction"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Bob Sparrow<\/p>\n

(Because I usually write about where I\u2019ve been or where I\u2019m going, I don\u2019t often sit around pondering my navel, but Covid-19 has changed all that.\u00a0 In fact, it\u2019s got me thinking about today\u2019s two most-used words, \u2018Social Distancing\u2019.\u00a0 Here\u2019s what I pondered).<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re all in this together.\u201d<\/strong> How many times have you heard that?\u00a0 It\u2019s an oxymoron, spoken mostly by morons.\u00a0 We are social beings and nothing could be further from the truth than us \u2018being in this together\u2019.\u00a0 We have been ordered to stay apart, with serious repercussions if we don’t!\u00a0 You could wind up in jail if you disobey – solitary confinement probably!<\/p>\n

But the reality is, we\u2019ve experienced social distancing<\/strong> for some time \u2013 perhaps since the middle of the last century.\u00a0 Yes, we, as a species, have been \u2018distancing\u2019 ourselves from each other for at least the past 50-60 years \u2013 so we should be pretty good at it by now.\u00a0 Don\u2019t believe me?\u00a0 Let these ‘Then and Now’ photos tell the story, a story that many of you, who have passed the mid-life crisis phase of your life, have witnessed firsthand.<\/p>\n

Remember when you stood around and talked to your friends?\u00a0 Today’s kids have been physically close, but socially distant.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Remember when the neighborhood would get together to play a game?\u00a0 Now a kid can play a game with another kid half way around the world from his bedroom<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Remember when office meetings were a time when the whole staff came together?\u00a0 Now you can attend the meeting ‘digitally’ in your underwear.\u00a0 I’m sure you’ve heard that this, like so many other ‘socially distant’ activities, is the ‘new normal’!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Remember when the family used to go to a game?\u00a0 Now there is a cardboard cutout in your place and you will root through your phone.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Remember when you used to dine out?\u00a0 Now your meals are delivered to your home.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Remember the hug?\u00a0 It’s now been replaced with the elbow bump.\u00a0 So personal!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I know what you’re saying – this has all be brought on by Covid-19.\u00a0 Yes, Covid-19 has exacerbated this issue, but social distancing has been going on for way too long and unless we stop its momentum we’re going to find ourselves as protagonists in an isolated dystopian world, probably in a bubble.\u00a0 \u00a0 Experts say that Social Distancing leads to loneliness, depression, post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), substance use disorder, domestic violence, child abuse, increase in suicide and a broad range of other mental and behavioral disorders.<\/strong>\u00a0 In other words, Social Distancing is NOT GOOD FOR US!<\/p>\n

I’m not advocating ignoring the health warnings that have been issued, as random and illogical as some may seem, I’m just saying, for our own health and welfare, when this is all over we need to get back to ‘socially magnetizing’<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Bob Sparrow (Because I usually write about where I\u2019ve been or where I\u2019m going, I don\u2019t often sit around pondering my navel, but Covid-19 has changed all that.\u00a0 In fact, it\u2019s got me thinking about today\u2019s two most-used words, … read more<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":9243,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3333,6],"tags":[3285,3291],"class_list":["post-9241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-covid-19","category-opinion","tag-covid-19","tag-social-distancing"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Kids-cell-phone.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p31aN0-2p3","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9241"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9241\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9292,"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9241\/revisions\/9292"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}