Remember those stories in 2020 about increases in road rage and other outbursts that experts at the time blamed on COVID-19 isolation?
Well, Americans are now — so far — free to get up and move about the country, but psychologists say we’re only getting worse.
Then again, you don’t need a degree on your wall to divine this: Just watch the news for the latest mass looting incident, beatdown or airline tantrum.
That said, Axios did speak to some people with degrees on their wall, and they confirmed what we’ve all been seeing.
“I think it’s a breakdown of social norms,” Megan Ranney, dean of the Yale School of Public Health, told the publication.
New York-based neuropsychologist Sanam Hafeez commented, “The pandemic really did change us very inherently because, for the first time in anyone’s lifetime, it was like every man for himself. You know, we were fighting over toilet paper.”
He added, “It broke life as we knew it.”
Hafeez added, “We need society to keep defining and holding us accountable. And when society stopped for a very good reason, it’s almost like we gave ourselves this silent permission to drop our pretenses.”
That said, some experts say there’s more to blame than Wuhan’s least popular import.
There’s burnout at work, remote jobs blurring work time and home time, and, of course, the internet.
Clinical psychologist Andrea Bonior recently told the Washington Post that social media is fueling a “main character” mindset in people, causing them to consistently act as if they’re in the right, when clearly they are not.
“There’s an element of being the star of your own story,” Bonoir told the Post.
You can probably think of 10 viral videos of such behavior off the top of your head.