By Carter Kellock, Staff Writer
The Covid-19 pandemic had a severe negative effect on American culture. Whether it be the cul de sac of a neighborhood or a park in town, going outside and meeting strangers in public had always been a part of life for the American people.
From 2020 to 2025, the price of sporting event tickets has more than doubled – up 123 percent – meanwhile the price of movies and concerts have gone up 105 percent. These rising costs of recreational activities and shifts towards online culture make going outside for fun begin to feel more like a luxury than a common practice. People simply do not gather in arcades or parks as much as they did 15 or even 10 years ago.
Studies in recent years have shown that people who were more affected by the pandemic show greater signs of antisocial behavior. A study in China used two games, the Take game and the Joy of Destruction game. In both games, people more affected by the virus would act more selfishly in these games, attempting to steal more than their un-affected counterparts. Meanwhile in the US, 72 percent of adults said that the COVID 19 pandemic did more to pull the country apart than together like most national issues.
ECC student Dominick Daniele shared his thoughts on the matter.
“I’d probably say around my high school years (2020-2021). Right when I really started noticing. It really seemed like not many people went outside anymore, even in the subdivision I lived in, Southlands. Usually we had kids there. I mean, one could argue, but like, there wasn’t anyone outside anymore. Nobody was really interested or anything.”
Sophomore Joshua Frame shared his thoughts on the rise of anti-social behavior, “Covid 19 forced everyone, for a period of months, to live this lifestyle,” said Frame. “When we went back, some people had already tasted a different life and wanted to adopt some of the principles or just live like that forever. Covid not only facilitated people to not going outside or interacting socially much, but gave people the experience of what it was like to do so people just preferred that.”
An anonymous ECC student said when asked why people didn’t immediately see the end of Covid as a chance to go back outside: “I think it’s just screens and phones, man. I mean, most of the time our culture pushes it too. Being on social media, the dopamine rush people get for being on that or playing video games. Some people just wanna be stuck inside and left alone and there’s nothing you can really do about that.”
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