Category: Psychological and Sociological Impact
How the pandemic messed with our perception of time
Vox A neuroscientist explains how history, mood, and surprise can make life feel like a slog — or go by in a blur. It’s tempting to imagine memory as a videotape that stores and plays back the past just as it happened. But the workings of the mind are not so simple. Memory is more of a […]
Aug 8, 2023
E.R. Visits for Teenage Girls Surged During the Pandemic
New York Times The proportion of teen girls visiting emergency rooms in mental health crisis rose 22 percent in the pandemic’s second year, while the proportion of teen boys visiting declined. As the coronavirus pandemic dragged through its second year, an increasing number of American families were so desperate to get help for depressed or […]
Aug 1, 2023
The Post-Covid Travel Boom Is Running Out of Steam
Bloomberg Fare promotions and other signs of weakening domestic demand show business is leveling out for airlines. European beaches and cities are jam-packed with US tourists eager to venture across the Atlantic now that there are no Covid restrictions to hold them back. But back at home, the air travel recovery appears tapped out. Alaska […]
Jul 25, 2023
Why the Remote-Work Debate Stays So Heated
The Atlantic The conversation often foregrounds large-scale issues such as productivity and company culture, but the question of where an employee works is intensely personal. Better Together? In the summer of 2021, I started going back to the office. It was not the allure of watercooler chatter or the promise of juiced-up productivity that pulled […]
Jul 18, 2023
As pandemic raged, global south lacked vaccines. Never again, researchers vow.
Washington Post Once it became clear that wealthy nations would help themselves to coronavirus vaccines long before poorer nations had access, researchers across Africa, Asia and South America banded together with the World Health Organization. Never again, they vowed, would they allow themselves to be at the mercy of the Western world while a deadly […]
Jul 18, 2023
WSU study: alcohol-related liver illnesses rose during pandemic
NBC News Researchers at Washington State University (WSU) have found that an increase in alcohol-related liver illnesses is directly correlated to the COVID pandemic years. “Severe liver disease seems to be rising over time, but it appears to have increased even more dramatically during the pandemic,” said Dr. Kris Kowdley, professor at Washington State University’s Elson S. Floyd College […]
Jul 11, 2023
U.S. Students’ Progress Stagnated Last School Year, Study Finds
NYT Despite billions in federal aid, students are not making up ground in reading and math: “We are actually seeing evidence of backsliding.” Despite billions of federal dollars spent to help make up for pandemic-related learning loss, progress in reading and math stalled over the past school year for elementary and middle-school students, according to […]
Jul 11, 2023
Concept Creep: How Our Concepts of Anxiety and Depression Are Changing
Neuroscience News Summary: A study exploring “concept creep” suggests that, with increased mental health awareness following the COVID-19 pandemic, the concepts of “anxiety” and “depression” are broadening. The study revealed that, contrary to expectations of less emotionally intense use, these terms have taken on more severe connotations over the past five decades. This shift is driven […]
Jul 5, 2023
If You Suffer from Urgent Normal Syndrome, Ask for Help
Ko-Fi A woman finds a mask in her coat pocket, leftover from the 2021 mandate. It triggers such a violent emotional reaction in her mind that she throws the mask across the room and starts sobbing, then tweets about the experience. This woman might be suffering from urgent normal syndrome. What’s that, you ask? As […]
Jun 27, 2023
How Did COVID-19 Affect Plans of American High-Schoolers?
VOA In a recent survey of 12th-graders, about 40% said the COVID-19 pandemic made them rethink their choice of career or undergraduate degree, and about 10% said it made them doubt the value of college at all. Nirvi Shah of USA Today unpacks the findings. (June 2023). The lives of students graduating from high school this year were […]
Jun 20, 2023