It’s the question every household fantasizes about these days: what will you do after COVID 19 is in the rearview? Friends are anxious to get reacquainted. Sports fans cannot wait to go to a baseball game. Some can’t wait to book a trip somewhere far away. It is fun to think of, for sure. But the more you think about that question, the more you must consider what life will truly be like on the other side of this pandemic.

Will there be sold-out concerts with thousands in attendance?

Will you want a big 4th of July party?

Experts say the ripples of COVID 19 will be felt long after the pandemic is over, suggesting that we will, in fact, be looking at a new normal.

The Great Depression was a defining moment in American history. Children born around this time would live to see America at its most prosperous. Like every other home on the block, their homes would eventually have televisions and microwaves – a car in every driveway. Traveling cross country and overseas was easier and cheaper than ever before. But still, they grew up knowing the value of a dollar. These children would grow up to be the grandparents who give ‘a shiny quarter’ to their eye-rolling grandkids. This was because they remembered a time when things weren’t so good.

In the same way, the COVID-19 pandemic will be the defining moment of this generation. Its effects still haven’t been fully realized, but they are seeping through our daily lives.

Did it feel strange to you when you last saw a large crowd in a movie or tv show?

Wave Goodbye to the Handshake

Many have surmised that the handshake should have gone out the door a long time ago. In a paper published in 2014, Dr. Mark Sklansky cites that the risks of spreading pathogens should supersede the urge to shake hands. His paper specifically dismantles the efficacy of handshaking between doctors and patients but speaks more broadly. “Hands are warm and wet, and we know they transmit disease very well,” says Sklansky. “They’re a phenomenal vector for disease.”

“I don’t think we should ever shake hands again, to be honest with you,” Dr. Anthony Fauci.

The world after COVID may be one without social touching. Hugs, high fives, and pats on the back could be met with a cringe, but this could lead to further effects. Why do people shake hands and touch people in the first place?

Like speaking, body connection is a form of language dating back thousands of years. It’s an evolutionary practice, even seen in other primates. “We know that nonhuman primates use social touch a lot through grooming,” says Juulia Suvilehto, a researcher at Linköping University in Sweden. “It’s a way of making allies and maintaining relationships.

Tiffany Field is the director of touch research at the University of Miami School of Medicine. She explains that touch also reduces aggression. “When you’re touching someone, it’s very hard to be aggressive towards them.” Field explains results from a study in which they separated monkeys between a wall of plexiglass. “If you separate two monkeys and they can see, hear, and smell each other, but they can’t touch each other, once you remove the plexiglass, they practically kill each other.” What does this mean for the future of human interaction? For one thing, that awkward moment when you shake someone’s hand who offers a fist bump may be replaced by someone not knowing how to refuse a handshake politely.

More Prepared… Maybe

Software engineer turned philanthropist Bill Gates has been heavily involved in the COVID conversation. He suggests that our society will be more prepared for the next big disaster coming down the pike. “We’ll have practiced,” Gates said on the first episode of his new podcast, Bill Gates and Rashida Jones Ask Big Questions. “We’ll have done disease games like war games, and almost every country will respond like South Korea, or Australia did where you’re very quickly testing people and quarantining people. And our tools will be much better.” Much like the grandmother who saves her quarters, we’ll be ready if something similar comes back. But there’s another side to that quarter.

Katherine Hirschfeld, a medical anthropologist at the University of Oklahoma isn’t so optimistic. According to Hirschfeld, an increase in misinformation could lead to further political divide and future outbreaks. We will likely see “increased political division and economic inequality in the United States and elsewhere, with the basic science of epidemiology and public health attacked and undermined by conspiracy theories spread on social media,” she explains. “If this sounds unusually grim, it may be due to my years of research exploring post-Soviet conflicts, when many multicultural countries fell apart in warring factions that triggered epidemics of easily preventable diseases.” Grim indeed.

It’s Not All Bad

Society has taken measures to adapt during COVID that may have some positive lasting results. More businesses than ever are benefiting from a work-from-home model. A Gartner survey reported that 80% of the company leaders they polled plan to allow their employees to continue to work at least part-time remotely. Why? Because it’s good for business. According to Global Workplace Analytics, 94% of surveyed employers report has been the same or higher since allowing remote work.

The effects ripple on. With more remote work comes fewer cars on the road. Fewer cars mean less traffic and fewer carbon emissions. According to nature.com, after rising for decades, global carbon dioxide emissions dropped 6.4% during the pandemic. The United States wins the award for most improved with a 13% decrease. The average American household has 1.88 vehicles as of last year. Could a world without everyone commuting to work mean less of a need for multi-car homes?

Bill Gates is thinking even bigger. If companies aren’t making their employees come into the office, it won’t matter where they are headquartered. The draw of the big cities will have less of a pull. Employees won’t feel the need to stay close. “In the cities that are very successful… even for a person who’s well paid, they’re spending an insane amount of their money on rent.” This could be no more.

Education Made Accessible

Among the employees working from home, teachers are also finding their footing in a changing landscape. And so are the students. The COVID lockdowns have been inconsistent and seemingly unpredictable in the last year. A student in Virginia had a very different go of it than a student in California. Schools across the country have endured some combination of class cancellations, remote learning, and learning on-premise. But while the education system has struggled to get its footing, some are seeing the silver lining.

Anna Mueller, a sociologist at Indiana University Bloomington, speaks about the upside. “The pandemic has shown us how online teaching can be a tool that makes the classroom more accessible, particularly for students with disabilities. In the past, I’ve had students who sometimes struggled to attend class because they were coping with anxiety or living with significant pain. They needed my empathy and flexibility with class attendance but still missed the classroom experience. I now realize how easy it is to turn on a camera and pop on a microphone so they can join from the comfort of their homes.”

Mario Luis Small is a sociologist at Harvard. He suggests that secondary education may be in store for a radical makeover. “COVID-19 has shown that a lot, though by no means all, of higher instruction can happen online. Parents and students will likely ask how much of the on-campus experience is truly needed and demand alternatives.”

A New Kind of Sport

In the months after the pandemic has dissipated, there will no doubt a surge in attendance at concerts in sporting events. Those who associate summer days with hot dogs and baseball and cold Sundays with tailgating a football game are anxious to spend too much money on a beer at a game. But while these traditional sports are awaiting a resurgence, another kind of sport has been getting bigger and bigger.

Esports have boomed during the pandemic. Video gaming enthusiasts have gathered online to watch the pros play video games like Call of Duty, Overwatch, Minecraft, and thousands of more games. Viewership skyrocketed during the pandemic. StreamHatchet reports a jump in esports from 4.8 billion hours viewed in the first quarter of 2020 to 7.6 billion. Philadelphia is currently building a $50 million esports arena right next to all of their other major sports venues. It seems esports are here to stay.

Turning the Page

While everyone is excited for this chapter of society to be over, no one truly knows what to expect. What will vacations be like? What about birthday parties? Things may never truly be the same. But while some muscles may atrophy, others will strengthen. Will we see a bigger emphasis on family life as we all spend more time at home? Maybe the creativity world gets a spark as more people rely on their own faculties to entertain themselves. As the saying goes, only time will tell.

The first episode of Saturday Night Live this 2021 started with a question, ‘What Still Works in America?’ The show was hosted by Kate McKinnon, where she discussed which areas of American society are still working.  

Kate McKinnon says that since America already has a new president, some things should work. But then she asked further, ‘do they?’. 

The first topic was the government. And right off the bat, McKinnon remarked that she already has doubts.

The host then brought out the controversial Republican congresswoman from Georgia, Marjorie Taylor Greene. She was the show’s first target of the year. 

If you must know, Greene is currently bombarded with criticisms after it was revealed that she liked and engaged in conspiracy theories in the past. She even called for violence against Democrats. 

Kate McKinnon Interviews Cecily Strong’s Marjorie Taylor Greene

Cecily Strong portrayed Greene and went beside Kate McKinnon, where she handed her a gun right away – as if she was offering a gum. 

Kate McKinnon started to ask Strong’s Greene the theories which she believed in and was actively promoting. The character asked how much time she got, followed by saying that she thinks the Parkland shooting was a hoax and that the teachers were all actors and the kids were dolls. 

In that particular incident though, we must remember that 17 persons were killed. 

She also added that 9/11 was a hoax, sarcastically asking if anyone saw if it happened. 

It doesn’t stop there. Strong’s Greene said that she told her supporters to physically murder Nancy Pelosi – a lady she works with. 

And as if it wasn’t enough, she added that there’s another new conspiracy theory. The character played by Strong said that the Jewish space lasers caused the California wildfires. 

The host, just to make sure, asked if the congresswoman believes the theories, in which the character responded with an ‘Uh-huh.’ 

With a face hard to paint, McKinnon said that people could easily Google the congresswoman and see that she is a real US representative. Her tone shows apparent disbelief at what she was hearing.  

Strong’s Greene agreed that, yes, people could easily search for her online. But being a congresswoman might not be the first thing that will show up on Google. And we understand why. 

During the conversation, Kate McKinnon asked what her colleagues did when they found out all the things that Greene said in the past. 

Strong’s Greene shared that she was promoted to the education committee. 

It ended with Kate McKinnon saying that the government doesn’t work, and she regrets not taking the gun. 

The Stock Market and the Super Bowl

Kate McKinnon proceeded to talk about the stock market and invited a ‘major shareholder of Gamestop,’ which she quickly figured out to know nothing about stocks. That means, this aspect no longer works too. 

And then, she moved on to social media and vaccine rollout. For the vaccine rollout, she interviewed ‘O.J Simpson’ asking if he got vaccinated even before the teachers and those with health conditions. ‘Guilty as charged – about the vaccine’ was Simpson’s response. This made McKinnon conclude that neither social media nor vaccine rollout works.  

And finally, with a bit of hope, Kate McKinnon welcomed Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady. Brady was played by John Krasinski. 

Kate McKinnon shared that this is Brady’s 10th Super Bowl, and he kept on winning. From being in the worst franchise and taking them to the championship, McKinnon told him that he might be the only thing that works in America. She then added that everyone must be rooting for him. 

Krasinski’s character responded with, ‘Almost no one.’ 

The host enthusiastically said that she will still be rooting for him because the country can still rely on the quarterback. She followed it by saying that he’s not like he’s a weird Trump guy or anything. 

But the quarterback immediately said his thanks and left. 

Kate McKinnon then turned to the camera and shared that she is slowly losing her mind. She reminded everyone to stay strong (or weak – because being weak is a great option too) before saying the show’s signature farewell message, Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night. 

The entire skit was nothing short of hilarious and just tells us that things are still pretty bad in the US. 

Dogs have been man’s best friend for thousands of years. They lived with us in caves and castles. They have guarded our homes, hunted with us, and shared warmth on cold nights. The world around us has evolved drastically, while the relationship between dogs and dog owners has changed only slightly. Perhaps humans and dogs don’t rely on each other for survival the way we did in the wilderness before, but at this point in history – dogs are more a part of our family than ever before. And as people have benefited from the tremendous advancements in smart technology, it only makes sense that our canine brothers do too. Here are some of the best smart tech for dogs and their humans.

Findster Duo+ – $104.99

Anyone who has ever had a dog growing up has a horror story to share about when their dog got out and ran off. Dogs catch the scent of a squirrel, and they take off without looking back. Findster Duo saves dog owners the anxiety of losing their dog with its GPS tracking technology.  The tiny module can be placed on your dog’s collar and can track its location in real-time. While other similar products require a monthly subscription, Findster Duo does not. You can set perimeters that trigger an alarm should your dog stray outside. You can track multiple dogs at once and monitor your dog’s daily activity.

Buy here on their website.

Furbo Full HD WIFI Dog Treat Dispenser and Camera – $169.99

Sure, it would be great to bring your dog with you everywhere you went. Unfortunately, being a pet owner means that sometimes you have to leave your dog at home. With Furbo, dog owners can stay in contact with their dogs and interact with them throughout the day. Furbo combines a 160˚ wide-angle HD camera with a treat dispenser. The camera has two-way audio so you can speak to your dog and hear when they bark or fuss. With the smartphone app, you can dispense treats to calm them down or just check-in. The camera has night vision too, so dog owners can look after their buddy at night.

Buy here on Chewy.

iFetch Mini Automatic Ball Launcher Dog Toy – $115

Dog owners might love playing with their dog, but the dog certainly loves it more. The iFetch Automatic Ball Launcher will keep a dog entertained long after their owner’ arm gets tired. It comes with three mini tennis balls that the dog will learn to feed into the launcher. With three different settings, owners can choose how far the ball will go. Dog owners rejoice!

Buy here on Chewy.

Petnet Smartfeeder – $130

Dogs can be fussy about their meals, and it can be difficult to stick to a healthy feeding regiment. Enter Petnet. This smart device can feed A dog automatically while its owner is on the go. They can schedule feedings, set reminders to feed and refill Petnet or set automated feeding times. The Petnet offers suggestions for portion size based on a dog’s size and age. You can link the device to your Amazon Alexa or Google Home device and feed your dog without even leaving the couch.

Buy here on their website.

BONUS – BARKBOX

Okay, okay it’s not exactly a gadget. But while a Barkbox subscription isn’t exactly smart technology, it is a brilliant service to have if you love your dog. Barkbox is one of those subscription gift services where you can schedule a monthly box to arrive at your door full of dog toys and treats. You can customize your Barkbox based on the number of dogs and their size. After a couple of months, the dogs will recognize the box when you bring it inside and be excited to open their mail with you. While some subscription boxes have an array of things that you may or may not use, everything in your Barkbox will be put to use.

Buy here on their website.