Get Ready for a Roaring Twenties Homecoming

We’ve always known, intuitively, that we are social creatures. The UK recently appointed a Minister of Loneliness, to address evidence that living alone with little social contact can be as harmful to our health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day and is more detrimental to our longterm wellbeing than obesity.

The coronavirus contagion and our loss of human connection have wreaked havoc with our psychological need for close contact, a vital life requisite that we are only beginning to understand.

Mirror neurons are a fascinating element of this emerging science on social connection. If you’ve ever yawned uncontrollably after seeing someone else yawn, those are your mirror neurons being activated, a social function we share with other primates. It’s the same part of the brain that makes us laugh harder when we hear laugh tracks on a sitcom television show. In close proximity too, we tend to mirror the movements and posture of those with whom we are speaking. But, our deep social needs go beyond communication. We need touch as well.

A University of Miami research facility called the Touch Research Institute puts a finger on the problem of coronavirus, suggesting isolation is creating its own epidemic: “skin hunger”. Research at the Institute describes how human touch affects our vagal nerve, and can slow heart rate, reduce blood pressure, and boost relaxation. Without touch, our feel-good hormone serotonin can plummet, leading us toward anxiety, depression, and lack of sleep. During our coronavirus isolation, there have even been reports of people being so starved for human connection that they’d be willing to pay $50 for a hug.

There has been much debate as to what the world will look like after we emerge from isolation. Will we ever shake hands again? Will our work spaces and offices be redesigned forever? Will we always search for awkward ways to walk around each other in the supermarket?

I posit that not only will we return to normal, but that the pendulum may likely swing toward increased human contact — at least in the short term. In fact, I would go as far as predicting a post-pandemic social (and perhaps sexual) homecoming.

Even Tinder, the online hookup app, has been experiencing more activity than at any other time in its history, up 20% from pre-coronavirus levels. The Dutch Government also made it official, stating that singles may wish to make arrangements for ongoing casual contact with “sex buddies”. It’s becoming clear that social contact is a basic need.

When we do finally emerge from isolation, we may be looking at a new version of the Roaring Twenties, the famous decade of decadence that followed the devastating years of World War I. With a deadly war in the rear-view mirror, renewed optimism and prosperity loomed large as did the embracing of an “anything goes” liberal party atmosphere. One of the most iconic images of the 1920s was the flapper dress, donned by drinking, smoking, and partying women. It was an era of newness, of open love, and economic hope. And, most importantly, its special place, on the heels of deep collective deprivation seems instructive.

While some feel certain that we are forever relegated to six-foot personal bubbles for all of eternity, I predict just the opposite — a renewed sense of social liberalism, inspired by our deep evolutionary drives for connection and an underlying need to make up for lost time.