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Listening to the stories of elder members in our society reveals a drastic change in the way we interact with one another. Neighbors used to gather together. We were a sociable people. What happened?
Over the past few decades there has been a decline in societal participation in the United States. Don’t believe me? Host a party for a 10 year old child. Join a church softball league. Walk around a small town square. In most instances today, many fewer children are showing up to birthday parties (often the parents fail to RSVP or send regrets), the formerly active church softball league has boarded up, and the town square is a ghost town.
Well-known sociologist Robert Putnam has spent a career detailing this phenomenon. His book “Bowling Alone” highlights the specific example of declining membership in bowling leagues across America. He refers to the problem as a decline in “social capital”.
You are probably asking, “What is social capital?” Basically, it is a term used to describe the benefits and positive results of interactions amongst people. In other words, it refers to the space between two people. When that space is not filled with human interaction and relationships, distrust can consume an individual, a community, or an entire society.
Distrust
Americans are very distrustful of their government. A 2019 poll by the Pew Research Center found that a large majority of Americans (69%) believe the federal government hides important information, and very few Americans trust the government most or all of the time (17%). Astonishingly, a majority (58%) of adults are not confident people can participate in civil discourse with others who hold divergent views.
If you look back at Pew’s previous polls, you will notice that this is nothing new. Americans’ trust in their national government has been steadily declining since the 1960’s.
Enter Coronavirus
The last thing this detached, distrusting, inward facing society needs is a perceived crisis involving something they do not completely understand. Covid-19, better known as the more recent version of coronavirus, has become just that. On the political left and right, conspiracy theories and dramatic overreactions have become the common response. A government with anemically low levels of trust will naturally have a difficult problem handling such an issue.
Whether you believe coronavirus is an existential threat to humanity, a weapon born in a Chinese government laboratory, or anything else for that matter, is irrelevant to the point being made here. The reality is that many countries are shutting down parts of civil society. The Roman Catholic Church has scaled down Lenten services dramatically. Many schools are moving towards educating students remotely for the time being. Employers are moving towards working from home and holding meetings virtually. We may soon find out which of those annoying meetings we have always held could have been scaled back or avoided entirely!
The Problem
Herein lies the problem. There actually is a benefit to those meetings apart from the topic itself. There is value in face-to-face education which includes other students as well as a teacher. It is where we generate social capital. Drinking coffee and chatting with your coworkers is beneficial in and of itself. It improves and encourages relationships between people. It helps people trust each other. We are better educated when we have real interaction with our teachers. Students actually learn from their peers as well. Each student brings with them different life experiences, personalities, and ideas.
If we as a society further reduce our connections with each other, albeit temporarily, then how can we ensure we will re-obtain this interaction? Maybe we will realize some meetings are better held digitally or not at all. Perhaps we will see a spirited effort to move towards virtual schooling.