Chapter 8 - Between Consumer Change and New Awareness: Dealing with Emotions during the COVID-19 Lockdown

Summary

Snapshots from a Pandemic

In an increasingly globalised society, the COVID-19 pandemic, which occurred between 2020 and 2021, exerted a strong impact on many of the habits of social actors, forcing them to modify their mindset and behaviours, lifestyles and consumption patterns, sometimes radically (Kirk and Rifkin 2020). Indeed, the fears of the spread of the virus have led to significant changes in social life, impacting not only occupational and educational spheres but also leisure activities. From a strictly labour perspective, many companies have adopted remote working to ensure the well-being of their employees during a health emergency. This shift has led to a profound change in the traditional concept of the workplace, together with a remarkable increase in the use of digital communication technologies. Similarly, schools and universities adopted online education to limit the spread of COVID-19 virus: students of all ages had to adapt quickly to new learning methods based on digital platforms and virtual classrooms, demonstrating technological literacy and autonomous learning skills. Indeed, the resilience of many young people was evident as they embraced online education, finding innovative ways to engage in courses and maintain a sense of academic normalcy.

Due to restrictions imposed by national governments (Cambefort 2020), individuals have been compelled to move a wide range of activities from their usual outdoor settings into the confines of their homes, forcing them to adapt their daily routines to a radically changed reality; for instance, due to the closure of restaurants and restrictions on social activities, many people have developed new culinary habits, experimenting with baking, home cooking and meal preparation. Similarly, the enforcement of social distancing measures has resulted in a decrease in face-to-face social activities: virtual interactions through apps and digital platforms have become a common alternative for keeping in touch with relatives and friends, in an attempt to find new forms of ‘normality’ in the changing global scenario. Indeed, as Settersten et al. (2020, 2) pointed out, while the whole world was waiting for a medical solution, ‘the most effective remedy has been behavioral: physical distancing. It is this behavioral remedy that has immediately and significantly altered every domain of life – through restricted mobility and social interaction, voluntary or involuntary quarantines, lockdowns for whole populations, remote working and learning, or loss of work altogether’.