How Social Distancing is Changing Human Behavior

CEDARVILLE, Ohio, Aug. 12, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Most of the attention during the COVID-19 pandemic has been on the medical and public health impact, as it should be. But what about the impact on human interactions? How has COVID-19 affected our social and relational health?

Dr. Michael Sherr, chair and professor of social work at Cedarville University, is editor-in-chief of the Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment. Inspired by fellow editor Dr. Christson Adedoyin, professor of social work at Samford University, the special issue of the journal will look exclusively at how social distancing, as a means to mitigate the transmission of COVID-19, is affecting the way humans interact.

The special edition of the journal is scheduled for release by mid-2021.

"Everyone is focused on a cure or finding a vaccine," Sherr said. "But one thing not being addressed are the long-term challenges of having a new set of norms slowly making their way into how we're supposed to operate with one another."

"Are the masks ever going to go away? How about the way we look at each person when they sneeze or cough? How about the way we spend time together? My family went to the mall recently to do some shopping, and honestly, I don't know if we'll be doing that again for a while."

Of the submissions received so far, it's evident that social distancing is touching every detail of life. Articles so far address the influence of social distancing on food systems and food shortages, the impact on university teaching and learning, the nutrition effects of quarantining, the influence on human resource initiatives in business and even the way it's affected protesting in the wake of the George Floyd death at the hands of the police.

"As humans, we've created systems in our world that make us comfortable," said Sherr. "We lose sight of how dependent we are on the intricate and delicate balances that God created. God is always good, and he always wants what is good for us. This time has brought a clarity of priorities, realizing how mortal and finite I really am."

Cedarville University (1887) is an accredited, Baptist institution in southern Ohio with an enrollment of 4,380 undergraduate, graduate and online students. For more information about the University, visit www.cedarville.edu.

SOURCE Cedarville University

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