New Worldwide Trend—the «Mask Regime»
The modern world is far different than most people would have imagined a mere two years ago. Now, most people have to abide by the mask regime in order to feel safe going about their day-to-day lives. We are going to take a look at how masking up has changed the world so far and what you can expect from such changes in the future. Particularly, we will examine interpersonal relationships and how they have shifted to accommodate the world in a pandemic.
The newest and most definitive trend of the young decade is the face mask regime, or the mandatory wearing of masks to help people stop the spread of disease. Human relationships have suffered as a result of this necessary precaution, though, making many individuals less capable of communicating. After all, the mouth is covered and a large portion of the face. With only the eyes to go by, it's hard for people to really understand the intention of the individual speaking to them.
Fortunately, we also live in an age of technology that is capable of helping people connect with each other without having to be face-to-face. Business meetings have moved online, schools are using virtual outcomes to educate their students, and the start of many relationships occurs when individuals meet people online. Attempting to connect with people during the pandemic and the associated mask regime has presented some challenges, but other people are taking it in stride.
To get a better look at the overall impact of communications, human relationships, and more, we have to look at how we interacted before the pandemic and where we are headed after it has ended. The insights that we glean from these topics will provide a clearer picture of how we have adapted to the new world.
Online Dating Before the Pandemic
What was online dating like before the pandemic? It was not all that long ago, but everything has changed since the mask mandates drove millions of more people online to look for love. Dating sites were designed to help singles connect with people and develop a relationship. The sites were incredibly popular, boasting millions of users around the world and continuing to grow as a result of the adaptation of new technology. The long and short of the situation is that people were able to meet single partners, married individuals, and any other kind of person they wanted, get to know them, and host dates. Much of this never changed in the face of the pandemic, either.
Online dating was seen as a reprieve from the complexity of looking for dates in person. Instead of hanging around a bar or club and hoping to run into someone interesting enough to date, people purposefully used their dating service of choice to narrow down the available options. The ease of using dating sites to find partners was substantial for people from all walks of life. In fact, famous individuals were often found using online dating services to find romantic partners. That way, they did not have to deal with people fawning over them and their success—dating services allow people to focus solely on what truly matters between them.
In short, it should be abundantly clear that online dating was able to connect people in significant ways in the pre-COVID times because the services offered:
- Faster dating outcomes than meeting in person
- Cheaper dates
- A wider variety of people to meet
- Location-based dating
- Specific niches for dating
- And much more
Online dating sites were already overtaking traditional dating in the younger age groups and were poised to continue to climb the age brackets as time goes on. Now, many people have been thrust into online dating by a lack of choice in the situation. Now that this new condition is apparent, we must ask what the future of online dating is going to look like after the face mask regime ends.
How to Change Our World After
While online dating sites certainly became more popular as a direct result of the face mask mandates, other elements of technology changed during this time, too. What can we expect the world to look like after we shed our masks? Will we go back to the way things used to be, or has over a year of changes made some people realize that the new way of things is better?
When we consider how does technology affects us in light of everyday tasks, it's clear that the COVID era simply accelerated some of the plans that were already in place to develop business outcomes. For example, food delivery and order picking were likely to happen in the same way as they did during the quarantines, just not as swiftly. In the future, people will likely continue to order their food to be picked up at the store, and individuals will continue to order food from their favorite restaurants rather than going out.
Another major change that has occurred is the methods that people use to get together and watch films. With quarantine measures in place, some people have found that having watch parties with their friends is better than going to the cinema. The only drawback is that few movie productions are going to allow films to be released on streaming services instead of in theaters, so people will flock back to the movies as soon as possible in all likelihood.
Even the way we meet people has changed forever, with more people using online dating services and personal forums to meet people. It seems likely that attention-starved people will go out into public to find friends and partners once quarantine is over, but this will continue to happen online.
Innovation vs. Isolation
One of the major impacts of technology that has emerged and come into its own during these challenging times has been innovation in education and exploring the world. This has occurred in several interesting ways. For example, Virtual Reality has made it possible for students in the classroom to take a virtual tour of a famous museum, watch cosmic events unfold, and more. People are utilizing the new technology, and the free time they have during quarantine to learn new things in new ways.
This struggle between innovation and isolation is constant back and forth, with the technology fighting to gain ground as people struggle with loneliness. It appears as though technology will win this fight as more people are using innovation to reach out into the world and get positive results in their life.
We have seen incredible advances in online dating tech, VR, AR, and more as technology services seek to help people get the connective outcomes that they desire so much. In short, you can count on these developments to linger and inform the way that people connect with one another for years to come.
Dating Industry in the Future: Prediction
The last element of the mask era that we have to examine concerning the future is the ongoing impact of humanity's mobile devices and dating outcomes. Specifically, what will the dating industry look like in the future?
Several schools of thought have emerged regarding the future of online dating, and they can be summed up quite easily.
- There was tremendous growth in the number of users on dating services before COVID hit, mostly in the younger age groups. However, the overall number of people that had used a dating site to have a romantic encounter was nearing 40%.
- Dating sites gained a massive following during the times of COVID. People have been using them to keep loneliness at bay and find romance with few other options.
- Dating sites are going to see a dip in overall users once the mask mandates wear off. People will want to meet up in person again.
- The overall number of relationships happening in cyberspace will increase as people that had positive experiences with online dating continue to use the outcome after the novelty of meeting in person once again has ended.
- Dating website growth will not only continue, but it will also integrate new facets of technology to help it maintain its current growth.
The future of online dating looks bright, even brighter, perhaps, than before the lockdowns began.
Technology has been the saving grace during times of lockdowns. Video chats have allowed family members to stay connected. Mobile ordering has given older people the chance to order food without putting themselves at risk. Online dating has given people the romantic connections that they crave. The day when the lockdowns are behind us will be a bright and cheerful one, but it will not be the end of the technology that has helped people get through the trying times. Instead, it will continue to grow and bolster society.