At the time, people argued with me and said that the short-term gains were worth more than the long-term detriment, but increasingly, people seem to have realized that they were wrong they underestimated the cost and, they poorly predicted how they would feel about the outcomes.

Some of the lockdowns were necessary at the time in my opinion, but without doubt the long term impact on people and how they interact and how they feel and their general mental health was not considered enough. There should have been more about encouraging people to get outside in the fresh air more and still meet people but in a safer outdoor setting.

I believe that through the lockdowns and the changes in cultural behavior toward interacting with each other, a large number of people were forced into a type of isolation, where the already tenuous connections we have to each other, were rapidly eroded even further.

Very eloquently put and I agree with you, many people are now struggling to get back to the same levels of social interactions as before and as you say in smaller more immediate circles than before.

I truly feel for the younger people especially who had to live through that time, those who were anywhere from 13 to 30 suffered the most and within that subset those between 16 and 22. I hope that it does not affect them for life.