The Experience of Young Adults in Heading toward the “New Normal”: “I Can Imagine Myself Getting Old with a Mask on My Face”

The COVID-19 pandemic is recognized as one of the most dramatic global health, social, and economic crises of the last decades, and maybe the whole century. Therefore, it is obvious that there is a need to examine the constructs of new thinking, new ways of life, and new behavior, which will help people not only to overcome the pandemic but also to build a future after it. The words isolation, quarantine, social distancing, lockdown, masks, antibodies, and zoom meeting quickly became the keywords of the COVID-19 pandemic. In this article, which is based on an analysis of the scientific literature and interviews, we ask whether new behavioral patterns such as social distancing, mask-wearing, online communication, and others might become the “new normal”. However, what might be perceived as the “new normal” to some, may seem like social absurdity to others. Thus, with an open-minded approach, we analyze the “new normal” as a complex, controversial, and evolving concept.

REFERENCES:

• Alraouf, A.A. (2021). The New Normal or the Forgotten Normal: Contesting COVID-19 Impact on Contemporary Architecture and Urbanism. Archnet-IJAR: International Journal of Architectural Research, 15(1), 167–188. DOI: 10.1108/ARCH-10-2020-0249.
• Banerjee, D., Rao, T.S., Kallivayalil, R.A., & Javed, A. (2020). Revisiting ‘The Plague’ by Camus: Shaping the ‘Social Absurdity’ of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Asian Journal of Psychiatry, 54, 102291. DOI: 10.1016/j.ajp.2020.102291.
• Bengtsson, M. (2016). How to Plan and Perform a Qualitative Study Using Content Analysis. NursingPlus Open, 2, 8–14. DOI: 10.1016/j.npls.2016.01.001.
• Bennett, C.M. (2021). Learning to Live with COVID-19 in Australia: Time for a New Approach. Public Health Research & Practice, 31(3), e3132110. DOI: 10.17061/phrp3132110.
• Bozkurt, A., & Sharma, R.C. (2020). Education in Normal, New Normal, and Next Normal: Observations from the Past, Insights from the Present and Projections for the Future. Asian Journal of Distance Education, 15(2), i–x. Retrieved from: http://www.asianjde.com/ojs/index.php/AsianJDE/article/view/512. DOI 10.5281/zenodo.4362664.
• Camus, A. (1955). The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays. Transl. J. O’Brien. New York: Vintage International.
• Curzon-Hobson, A. (2013). Confronting the Absurd: An Educational Reading of Camus’ The Stranger. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 45(4), 461–474. DOI: 10.1080/00131857.2012.718150.
• Czeisler, M.É., Howard, M.E., & Rajaratnam, S.M.W. (2021). Mental Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Challenges, Populations at Risk, Implications, and Opportunities. American Journal of Health Promotion: AJHP, 35(2), 301–311. DOI: 10.1177/0890117120983982b.
• El-Erian M.A. (2010, October 10). Navigating the New Normal in Industrial Countries. Wash­ington, D.C.: International Monetary Fund. DOI: 10.5089/9781455211685.028.
• Erlingsson, C., & Brysiewicz, P. (2017). A Hands-On Guide to Doing Content Analysis. Afri­can Journal of Emergency Medicine, 7(3), 93–99. DOI: 10.1016/j.afjem.2017.08.001.
• Fiorillo, A., & Gorwood, P. (2020). The Consequences of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Mental Health and Implications for Clinical Practice. European Psychiatry: The Journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists, 63(1), e32. DOI: 10.1192/j.eurpsy.2020.35.
• Giallonardo, V., Sampogna, G., Del Vecchio, V., Luciano, M., Albert, U., Carmassi, C., Carrà, G., Cirulli, F., Dell’Osso, B., Nanni, M.G., Pompili, M., Sani, G., Tortorella, A., Volpe, U., & Fiorillo, A. (2020). The Impact of Quarantine and Physical Distancing Following COVID-19 on Mental Health: Study Protocol of a Multicentric Italian Population Trial. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 11, 533, 1–10. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00533.
• Graneheim, U.H., Lindgren, B.M., & Lundman, B. (2017). Methodological Challenges in Qualitative Content Analysis: A Discussion Paper. Nurse Education Today, 56, 29–34. DOI: 10.1016/j.nedt.2017.06.002.
• Graneheim, U.H., & Lundman, B. (2004). Qualitative Content Analysis in Nursing Research: Concepts, Procedures and Measures to Achieve Trustworthiness. Nurse Education Today, 24(2), 105–112. DOI: 10.1016/j.nedt.2003.10.001.
• Jacques-Aviñó, C., López-Jiménez, T., Medina-Perucha, L., de Bont, J., Queiroga Gonçalves, A., Duarte-Salles, T., & Berenguera, A. (2020). Gender-Based Approach on the Social Impact and Mental Health in Spain during COVID-19 Lockdown: A Cross-Sectional Study. BMJ Open, 10(11), e044617. DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2020-044617.
• Lizarzaburu, J.M. (2012). Albert Camus and Absurd Communication: From Undecidability to Übercommunication [MA Thesis]. University of Colorado.
• Metzl, E.S., & Morrell, M.A. (2008). The Role of Creativity in Models of Resilience: Theoreti­cal Exploration and Practical Applications. Journal of Creativity in Mental Health, 3(3), 303–318. DOI: 10.1080/15401380802385228.
• Mishra, C., & Rath, N. (2020). Social Solidarity during a Pandemic: Through and Beyond Durkheimian Lens. Social Sciences & Humanities Open, 2(1), 100079. DOI: 10.1016/j.ssaho.2020.100079.
• Morganstein, J.C., & Ursano, R.J. (2020). Ecological Disasters and Mental Health: Causes, Consequences, and Interventions. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 11(1). DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00001.
• Neville, F.G., Templeton, A., Smith, J.R., & Louis, W.R. (2021). Social Norms, Social Identi­ties and the COVID-19 Pandemic: Theory and Recommendations. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 15(5), e12596. DOI: 10.1111/spc3.12596.
• Pearce, L., & Cooper, J. (2021). Fostering COVID-19 Safe Behaviors Using Cognitive Dis­sonance. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 43(5), 267–282. DOI: 10.1080/01973533.2021.1953497.
• Ren, F., & Zhang, J. (2015). Job Stressors, Organizational Innovation Climate, and Employees’ Innovative Behavior. Creativity Research Journal, 27(1), 16–23. DOI: 10.1080/10400419.2015.992659.
• Rosenberg, Ch.E. (1989). What Is an Epidemic? AIDS in Historical Perspective. Daedalus, 118(2), 1–17.
• Rubin, G.J., & Wessely, S. (2020). The Psychological Effects of Quarantining a City. BMJ, 368, m313. DOI: 10.1136/bmj.m313.
• Ryser, J. (2020). Planning for the Post-Covid-19 ‘New Normal’. disP – The Planning Review, 56(4), 125–139. DOI: 10.1080/02513625.2020.1906066.
• Scales, P.C., Benson, P.L., Oesterle, S., Hill, K.G., Hawkins, J.D., & Pashak, T.J. (2015). The Dimensions of Successful Young Adult Development: A Conceptual and Measurement Framework. Applied Developmental Science, 20(3), 150–174. DOI: 10.1080/10888691.2015.1082429.
• Tesar, M. (2020). Towards a Post-Covid-19 ‘New Normality?’: Physical and Social Distancing, the Move to Online and Higher Education. Policy Futures in Education, 18(5), 556–559. DOI: 10.1177/1478210320935671.
• Thucydides (1954). The Peloponnesian War. Transl. R. Warner. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
• Verhoef, A.H., du Toit, J., & du Preez, P. (2020). Being-in-the-Covid-19-World: Existence, Technology and Embodiment. Acta Theologica, 40(2), 150–164. DOI: 10.18820/23099089/actat.v40i2.19.
• Wolken, D.J. (2016). Toward a Pedagogy of the Absurd: Constitutive Ambiguity, Tension, and the Postmodern Academy. Journal of Inquiry and Action in Education, 7(1), 64–79.
• Yarrow, E., & Pagan, V. (2021). Reflections on Front-line Medical Work during COVID-19 and the Embodiment of Risk. Gender Work Organ, 28(S1), 89–100. DOI: 10.1111/gwao.12505.