We are going through a pandemic. COVID-19 threatens us all, but the disease caused directly by this microbe is not the only danger to our health and well-being. The side effects of social distancing can also have devastating consequences. Some communities on the planet face months of almost total blockade. Most cities and towns are restricting movement drastically. Even if we are not confined to our houses or our flats, we are going to have to keep two meters away, greet each other from a distance and avoid groups. With this we run the risk of depriving ourselves of one of the main characteristics of what makes us human.
Humans have evolved as deeply social beings, whose need to touch and be touched, to talk, debate and laugh together, to smile and flirt with each other, and to interact in groups is essential for a healthy life. The very functioning of our biological system, the hormones and enzymes that circulate through our arteries, our intestines and other organs, is linked to our social connections and relationships with others. Countless experiments and real experiences show that eliminating these daily immersions in social activity weakens the bodily infrastructures of physical and mental health. When human beings are isolated, bad things happen; Physiological and psychological depressions appear, immune function decreases, intestinal pain and cognitive difficulties occur, among other effects.
"We share an evolutionary history of dense cooperation, of overcoming the difficulties of life together and imagining new possibilities"
What we are jeopardizing is not only this tendency to be and work together as a result of evolution, but also millennia of culture. Now all this has to change, at least for a time. This disturbance of the most constant and social daily aspects of our life is affecting all cultures on the planet. This shocking displacement of what it means to be Spanish, Italian, Korean, Chinese or of any other nationality also causes stress to our mind and, therefore, to our health.
However, human beings have the capacity to face the mental, physical and cultural challenges that are presented to us. Over the past two million years we have evolved from being tiny naked ape-like creatures without fangs, horns, or claws, who had only a few sticks and stones to protect themselves, to becoming creators of cities and nations, global economies , planes, computers, food processors, great works of art and thousands of culinary delights. We have accomplished these feats by leaning on each other. We share an evolutionary story of dense cooperation and mutual help, of coping with life's difficulties together and imagining and creating new possibilities. We have written social life and innovation in our neurobiology and our physiology. They provide us with the tool to solve the challenges that the coronavirus era poses to our bodies, our minds and our culture.
For example, in today's world, social life is not limited to people close to us. We have created the ability to reach the other side of the street and the other end of the planet without leaving our physical isolation. At this time we have to develop new and imaginative uses of social networks, mobile phones and other devices that can connect to the Internet to reshape and remake our social life. Although many people disapprove of the invasive entry of the Network into our daily lives as a factor that alters social contact and fosters isolation, we can turn it around and use it to our advantage. We have the possibility to use these technologies, applications and forms of communication to connect, socialize and share the empathy, joy and necessary knowledge. We can use these spaces to celebrate our cultural traditions, even when it is impossible to do it face to face. In the company of our dearest friends we can enjoy a drink, talk about politics and discuss the film that each of us has just seen on his laptop, despite being in rooms on different continents separated by thousands of kilometers.
Naturally, electronic social life is not the same as being together in person, but it is different from isolation. Numerous studies show that virtual social activities can positively feed our neurobiological and emotional systems, by satisfying our need for social connection and helping to maintain the infrastructures of our body, subject to the stress caused by the calamities that this new panorama brings us.
"Electronic social life is not like being together in person, but it feeds our neurobiological and emotional systems"
There is also the possibility of maintaining remote social relationships by means other than the Internet. Those of us who are lucky enough to be confined to an apartment can greet each other and serenade each other from the windows and balconies, announcing to the world our struggle to maintain social contact, as many people in Spain and Italy have done. If we are fortunate enough to be confined to our family, our friends, or our loved ones, we also have the opportunity to meet our need for face-to-face connection, empowered by the efforts we make to contact across our communities and the world. in order to create and maintain other crucial social interrelationships. But living in society in very small spaces also has its costs. Let us remember that, although we all need social life, our mind also usually needs some time alone. When creating space for everyone when we are close, we must flaunt the same imagination and the same empathy that we have to reach the other end of the Web in order to cancel the distance that separates us.
Optimism aside, the loss of some important rituals, at least in the near future, will be painful. Maintaining a low risk of virus transmission is going to be a priority at least for next year. Consequently, handshakes, kisses on the cheek, pat on the back, even sitting very close to others and bending over to whisper a secret to them are gestures that are over, at least during 2020. Perhaps new rituals will appear to replace them . Perhaps we will see more nods, smiles and even bows when greeting. New phrases and body movements are likely to be created and spread by populations and societies. Human beings are creative and imaginative, and developing new forms of sociability has been and will continue to be something that we are very good at.
Our social character will not solve all our problems, but maintaining strong relationships and following our daily cultural guidelines in the best possible way are actions within our reach, decisive to contribute to staying physically and mentally healthy as we strive to deprive the coronavirus of places where live and spread. To fight the COVID-19 pandemic we can, and must, keep our social facet in distancing alive. With this we will be putting the conditions to imagine and create a better future.
Agustín Fuentes is an evolutionary anthropologist, professor at the University of Notre Dame (United States) and author of The Creative Spark. How the imagination made us human (Ariel). News Clips translation.