Item

Isolated and Out of Touch

Title (Dublin Core)

Isolated and Out of Touch

Disclaimer (Dublin Core)

DISCLAIMER: This item may have been submitted in response to a school assignment prompt. See Linked Data.

Description (Dublin Core)

As someone who is very affectionate, the loss of touch throughout this pandemic has been devastating. While hugs, handshakes, fist bumps, and all kinds of other casual touches were second nature before March of 2020, six feet apart became the standard overnight. Greet your friends with an elbow bump, not a hug, and don't get too close because you might get sick. In May 2020, my first nephew was born, and I didn't get to snuggle him for months. It felt like I was missing out on vital connections with him, because I interacted from afar with a mask on.

I live alone, and this loss of touch felt so isolating. You don't realize how important hugs are until you are quarantined alone for weeks and weeks without the touch of another human being.

Now in 2022 as the fear has lessened a considerable amount, the lack of touch still seems to be prevalent in my life. After two years of adjusting to the loss of that particular sense, it feels awkward and forced to show the same affection that used to come easily. It seems like such a silly thing to mourn, the fact that I'm hugging people less. But it's one of those senses that you don't realize the importance of until it's gone. The loss of touch didn't affect everyone, but this completely altered the way I show the people in my life that I care about them.

Date (Dublin Core)

May 2022

Creator (Dublin Core)

Kylie Loewen

Contributor (Dublin Core)

Kylie Loewen

Event Identifier (Dublin Core)

HST643

Partner (Dublin Core)

Arizona State University

Type (Dublin Core)

text story

Controlled Vocabulary (Dublin Core)

English Social Distance
English Home & Family Life
English Emotion

Curator's Tags (Omeka Classic)

touch
social distancing
nephew
isolation
affection
interaction

Contributor's Tags (a true folksonomy) (Friend of a Friend)

Sensory History

Linked Data (Dublin Core)

Date Submitted (Dublin Core)

05/25/2022

Date Modified (Dublin Core)

05/27/2022

Item sets

This item was submitted on May 25, 2022 by Kylie Loewen using the form “Share Your Story” on the site “A Journal of the Plague Year”: http://mail.covid-19archive.org/s/archive

Click here to view the collected data.

New Tags

I recognize that my tagging suggestions may be rejected by site curators. I agree with terms of use and I accept to free my contribution under the licence CC BY-SA