Hi everyone!
I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy.
Under the new circumstances, I have decided to switch from an action to an inquiry this semester! Consequently, I wanted to introduce everyone my new question: “How has social distancing affected the way people socially connect?”. I know that everyone right now is navigating through uncertain times. As a result, I was interested in this topic because how relevant it is under the current circumstances. Everyone right now is encouraged to stay at home and to practice social distancing. Justifiably, the isolation and the lack of social connections does affect a lot of people’s mental health. The challenge people face now is to maintain their wellbeing during this pandemic. Recently, I’ve noticed an increase of people starting to take walks outside to grab some fresh air. I’ve personally started to FaceTime my friends a lot more. Thus, it’s noticeable how everyone is adapting to this new lifestyle. Therefore, I wanted to do some research into this area.
Personally, wellbeing is a topic that is very important to me, and it interests me in communicating that. From my rounds of research, I hope that reading my findings will positively impact those in my community. My goal is to help everyone have a better understanding of the importance to maintain social distancing but to also recognize that they should also maintain a positive wellbeing. Isolation is difficult for many people, but it is still crucial to “flatten the curve” and for everyone to be safe. For this cycle, I will be investigating the new social distancing rules and the importance of maintain social connections. Furthermore, I will be researching the new ways people are socially connecting and what the impacts of this new lifestyle are.
Research Round 1: Social Distancing Rules
-what are the social distancing rules that has affected BC?
-why is it important to maintain social distancing?
-how have these rules affected the day to day life for British Columbians?
Research Round 2: The Importance of Maintaining Social Connections
-what are the benefits of social connections?
-how does the lack of social connection affect people?
-how do social connections affect the mind and wellbeing?
-how do social connections affect the body?
Research Round 3: How People are Socially Connecting during these Difficult Times and the Impacts
-what are the creative new ways people are socially connecting with their friends?
Data has shown that there is an increase of network traffic online.
-what are the impacts of social networking and technology on this pandemic (misinformation, etc)?
-what are the concerns with video meeting apps (privacy)?
Potential Sites:
http://www.bccdc.ca/health-info/diseases-conditions/covid-19/common-questions
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-to-prevent-loneliness-in-a-time-of-social-distancing/
https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2011-24226-001
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3150158/
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0062396
As always, all feedback will be greatly appreciated. Thank you everyone for reading!
-Alison
Hi Alison,
It’s great that you were able to adjust your project due to new circumstances. Also, a very relevant topic and definitely should be spread more to really emphasize the importance of social distancing during this time. I feel also that it is really important for us as the youth to spread awareness about the importance of social distancing, because rather than just being told by adults what we should do, I believe our generation will be more keen on listening if people in their same age group echo the importance with their friends.
You have done a great job in organizing your project in a very clear manner and have found many different sites that you can use for your project to continue!
Here are some more sites that could be useful to you:
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/social-distancing.html
https://www.healthychildren.org/English/health-issues/conditions/chest-lungs/Pages/Social-Distancing-Why-Keeping-Your-Distance-Helps-Keep-Others-Safe.aspx
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/why-social-distancing-is-key-in-containing-the-new-coronavirus
I look forward to your future posts!
-Jessica O’Brien-Visbisky