It wasn’t long ago when we were mystified by the mask-wearing culture of Japan. Almost every time you would see video and imagery of large crowds in the bustling city of Tokyo, there would be a couple of individuals donning facemasks. We, in the West, would chalk this up to the respectful nature of the Japanese people. If one was sick, they’d wear a mask out of courtesy. To contrast that, it was never surprising to have people come into school or work with a full-blown cold or flu in America. That, of course, was pre-COVID-19. What does our world look like post-pandemic?
The quick adoption of facemasks would suggest that whenever we are sick now, we would have a ready supply of masks that there wouldn’t be much obstacle for us to put one on before the drive to work. What about other aspects of daily life? What happens to our cellphones? In its effort to increase screen size, phone companies did away with traditional unlocking methods and the vast majority of phones had facial recognition software to facilitate that change. Now with half our faces blocked by a cloth covering, what happens to our phones? Do companies focus on the commonly visible areas of our face? Does facial recognition become eye-scanning technology akin to sci-fi movies?
Aside from the security of our phones, there is the security of the places we work, live and learn in. Security cameras rely on the ability to see our faces to prevent and prosecute crimes. Don’t be surprised to be asked to temporarily remove your facemask when entering your bank but it defeats the entire purpose of wearing a mask. Bringing your hands to your face to pull it down or take it off was the initial concern of facemask efficacy at the beginning of the pandemic. How do we evolve to identify ourselves while maintaining the utmost health standards? Do we wear identifying lapel pins or other symbols to bypass screenings? Perhaps a unique IR chip is given to cleared individuals?
A less obvious circumstance of facemask wearing has to be the social interactions we will have and have been having. Maybe those are rare due to distancing but when the time comes that we are able to mingle with our neighbors, how do we accurately interpret someone’s reaction to something we do or say? Gone are half of our social cues. Is that person grinning or frowning underneath their mask?
We are in for a drastically different world but for how long? In the meantime, let’s exercise the care and caution that this pandemic deserves and hold on tight for whatever the world becomes here on after.
