Meeting New People in the Post Lockdown World
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I joined an online webinar last night about organising social events in the post lockdown world and it was really fascinating and resonated with things I've been talking and thinking about recently. 💭🤔
Before lockdowns we had a thriving community of people. You could say "Lets go to the pub next Wednesday" and you could have 50 people at the pub. During lockdown when we went online we had a thriving online community and even got new members.
After lockdown eased folk were 50/50 - they either wanted to get out and make up for lost time or they were really anxious about going out (I was in the latter category) 😩
It is now 5 years on and I have been really puzzled by having a group of over 3000 people yet at times really scrambling to get enough people to go to events.
The webinar put it very clearly about the shift change in this post lockdown world.
Money. Ever increasing cost of living = less disposable income. People also used savings during lockdown or are worried to overspend in times of uncertainty. 💰
People got used to staying indoors, did up their houses and like being at home. 🏠
Some people have lost the ability to socialise and have social anxiety about going out and meeting new people. 😩
Social Media & Online Presence. Many people are now happy staying home and reading other peoples posts on social media and replying to them. If you ever read any of the Facebook groups like Lonely Lass Scotland the amount of people on there who look for friendship and so many people reach out then the conversation dies away within a day or 2. 📱
Other peoples behaviour when out. Many people stated that they dislike using public transport to get to and from a night out due to other peoples behaviour. Also some mentioned this in cinemas and pubs. 😡
Change in drinking culture. Pubs not as busy. Younger people don't tend to drink alcohol and prices gone up. 🍺
What I took out of it was that there is a definite shift in socialising in the past 5 years. People cancel events much more now than they did before. Think nothing of not turning up (in fairness that was an issue before too!) ❌
Every day I see people online lonely, looking for friends, looking to join in social events but yet they join the group and don't come along. Are they happy just being part of a group and reading the Facebook posts?❓
Is a hybrid group the way to go or does that defeat the purpose and also not support the hundreds of bars and restaurants desperately needing our custom?🍽️
What do we think the future holds?❓
Answers below👇
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It's a difficult one but I think having an in person group is great and although I do read a lot of social media posts, it's not the same. Ironically I probably attend more events now than I did before lock down but that's probably because I'm retired so don't have to worry about mid-week events leaving me tired for work next day. Having said that I can't go out more than a couple of night a week because I just don't have the energy and I do like an evening at home just chilling!
Expect it’s a combination of factors for many people. For me it’s mainly 1, prices have increased so much; then 2 (lockdown taught me I was ok on my own at home) and to a lesser extent 5, I cancelled my Cineworld card mainly due to poor audience behaviour and I won’t go to the Pavilion after witnessing appalling audience behaviour there.