The bright side of lockdown

As India goes through a nationwide lockdown, we are reminded of the phrase “collective effervescence”, coined by French sociologist Emile Durkheim 100 years ago to describe the shared emotional connect people experience during religious ceremonies. The same concept even applies to sporting events where spectators simultaneously experience emotions during the course of a game. Interestingly, “much of the thrust of behavioural economics has involved, or at least could be construed as involving, an enhanced understanding of emotions”, says Rick S and Loewenstein G (2008).

Ironically, the response to the Covid-19 pandemic goes against this tenet of collective behaviour. We are now doing something that does not come naturally to humans: Stay away from one another. Such social distancing that India is currently practising is crucial for slowing the spread of the virus and preventing our health care systems from getting overwhelmed. But it is much easier said than done.

The pandemic spreading around the world is calling on us to suppress our profoundly human and evolutionarily hard-wired impulses: Seeing our friends, getting together in groups or touching one another. Additionally, this tests the human capacity for cooperation because we are not just trying to protect people we know, but also people we do not know — or possibly care about. Over a longer period, social isolation can increase the risk of a variety of health problems, including heart disease, depression, dementia, and even death. A 2015 meta-analysis of scientific literature showed that chronic social isolation increases the risk of mortality by as much as 29 per cent, with older people being more susceptible. That may be because social contacts can buffer the negative effects of stress.

Can technology help compensate for some of the downsides of social distancing? Yes, but only to an extent. Texting, email and apps, such as Skype and FaceTime, can definitely help people stay in touch. Even so, those modes of communications don’t entirely replace face-to-face interactions. When we interact with another person, a lot of the meaning conveyed between two people is not expressed in actual words but in non-verbal ways. 

Social isolation, a troubled economy, and an uncertain future make for more than abandoned airports and empty grocery shelves. But not all hope is lost. Even with social distancing, a lot of things that we need emotionally can still be incorporated into our daily routine, such as exercise, material change in food habits, rotating workforce, developing a hobby and even human connection. Remember, all of this is nudging people for a change in their behavioural habits.

And in that context, the label “social distancing” could indeed be a misnomer. While we must be physically distant, it is crucial that we maintain, or even increase, social contact during this unprecedented time. There are positive aspects to the lockdown. Social distancing can trigger behavioural change for the better, especially in drinking habits. When the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana was launched, poor people were using their account balances to spend more on health care, rather than on intoxicants. This time, we are supposed to restrain ourselves. Who knows, it could result in positive changes?

The lockdown could prompt companies to rethink and innovate how they function. In this era of technology, why can’t we have a rotating workforce to work remotely, say once a week, even schools could teach online once a week. For millennials, the threshold between physical and digital does not exist: It’s Phygital! This requires the best of both worlds to create unified experiences so that everything happening in the digital scenario influences the physical one and vice-versa. 

Finally, the positive impact on Earth is visible to everyone. We have seen the tweets about nature reclaiming its space in this fresh and pure human-free world.  Air quality index — a pretty robust metric for air pollution levels and to understand the impact of lockdowns, at least on our lower atmosphere — has improved drastically between the end of January (week five) and now. Specifically, the nitrogen dioxide levels have fallen since there are practically no cars on the streets and very few industries are operating. How valuable are the things we take for granted in nature is best summed up by these words of a 93-year-old Italian who survived Covid-19: “Only when we enter the hospital can we know that even breathing oxygen with a ventilator costs money.”

Yet, no amount of improvement in our climate can justify or make up for the loss of lives, suffering and pain that the world is going through. But, what we can do is perhaps learn from it. The Covid-19 crisis has reached this stage because some in the ruling class were busy denying its effects, just as they are in denial mode regarding climate change. The next crisis may be a climate one. Are we preempting it? Are we ready for that?

The 1.3 billion people of India will survive this deadly pandemic. The country had 42 million cases of  respiratory infection in 2018, of which  there were 3,740 deaths, a fatality rate of 0.08 per cent. So, we definitely will overcome this crisis too. Stay safe.

Ghosh is group chief economic advisor, State Bank of India,  and Chaudhuri is a senior vice president, Datamatics Global Services. Views are personal