What are some overlooked ways The Covid Pandemic has affected society in the long term?

I can definitely relate to what you’re saying. When the pandemic started I was 13, and while I wasn’t super immature, I was still just a regular kid. Now, a few years later, I sometimes feel like I’m the most immature out of the few friends I have, even though other people might not see me that way. I think part of it comes from the fact that my social life really shrank during those years, and that gap kind of froze me in place. It’s like my sense of humor and energy stayed “younger” because I didn’t get the same practice navigating social life that others did. A lot of us are still catching up on those years of "social development" and "identity building". It’s not just about maturity in the “serious” sense, but also about learning how to balance fun, responsibility, independence, and relationships. My advice would be not to stress too much about being “behind.” Social skills, maturity, identity...those aren’t fixed. You can still work on them little by little. And honestly, being a little immature sometimes isn’t a bad thing, it means you’ve still got that spark and fun energy a lot of people lose when they get older. :D

no more 24 hour walmarts :(

I was 20 when it happened, and i was lucky enough to not be very affected (unemployed, on school break, no friends, depressed + far from my family)

Yet one thing that annoys me but in a petty way ig, is glass/transparent plastic screen at welcome desks. Yeah, I totally understand the reason for them, and I'm glad the employees get some kind of barrier as well, but mate....i have auditory processing issues and having to be two meters apart is NOT helping ToT i don't want to make the poor employee repeat themselves three times before i start to get an idea of what they're saying....

I'm the high school class of 2024. I was 13 1/2 in March 2020 when the world shut down and it took a while for me to fully process what was actually happening as it felt like some really bizarre dream to me. Maybe it didn't help that my mental health was all weird at the start of it, making it feel even more like a dream to me than it probably would have otherwise.

Most of what people blame on COVID for causing seem to be things that actually started happening in the late 2010s but didn't really become that noticeable until the spring 2020 lockdowns and beyond.

However, the one thing that did seem to actually change in 2020 was grocery stores no longer being open late.