The Perils of Social Distancing
Credit.Alexandra Bowman
By Marissa King
Reading Marissa King’s “Social Chemistry” during a pandemic is an unsettling experience. King, who wrote her book well before Covid-19 hit, details the dangers of not meeting in person: “After two months without an in-person gathering, feelings of closeness between family members dropped by more than 30 percent. … After that, friendships go frigid.” She writes of the positive effects of brief moments of “high-quality” connection in public spaces: “Spending a couple of minutes casually interacting with a stranger or barista can make us as happy as spending the same amount of time with our romantic partner.” And of the power of touch: “While we often think of hugs as a way of catching colds, they can be surprisingly good at preventing them.” As companies like JPMorgan Chase reconsidered office space altogether and Dr. Anthony Fauci called for the end of the handshake, it’s hard not to r