‘A new decade’ they said, ‘a 2020 vision’ they said. A promising year full of new ideas, plans, and opportunities. Being on the move and all. But the situation we are in right now radically changed our daily lives. And now all that we ask ourselves is: What day is it even? 

Let me start by saying that I’m not here to touch the political and economic aspects connected to the crisis, but to shine some light on the sociocultural perspective of the current events, observed through the eyes of a millennial living in Amsterdam. 

Let me put ‘2pac – changes’ on repeat before I continue.

It’s a fact that every single person in the world is affected in their own way. It’s day 54 of the lockdown, or ‘the intelligent lockdown’, as we call it in the Netherlands, as we are blessed to still be allowed to go for a run or read a book in the park, but social distancing is a fact.

We have accepted the new norms and follow the instructions of the official organizations. At first, the new social guidelines had us a bit confused and slightly imbalanced, but we are now more comfortable and re-adjusted to the new circumstances. We’re studying and working from home (when possible) and ‘avoiding’ close contact with people as much as we can. We are thus capable of changing our habits, relatively quickly, but…

All I keep hearing is: “I want my social life back.”

Mostly coming from my extrovert friends. Since we can’t go on holidays, nor attend any of the events and be outside with our friends, the ‘Summer 2020 is cancelled’, has become a popular tag line, title, and source of meme followed by the phrase: ‘Kim, there’s people that are dying.’ referred to Kim K. meltdown when she lost her 75k diamond earring in the ocean. To be honest; I don’t really care that we can’t go to a museum, a party, or a festival this year. However, I do care about those who were creating those moments for us because their crafts, efforts, incomes, and future depend on it. So in a way, it’s good to reflect and understand how difficult it is for them to mentally survive what’s happening at this moment.

So a well-deserved shout-out and a moment of appreciation to all the people connected to the creative industry and creatives who still have an endless imagination that enables them to come up with the weirdest ideas to stay alive and continue to craft, even though it might in the short-term not generate the needed income. I hope though, that in the long run, it will bring the recognition they deserve.

Keep your head up and continue with your live-art, writing, and music sessions because without it the world is just a blanc canvas.

It’s good to see that artists and creatives are finding their online audiences and work on new collaborations to come back stronger when all of this is over. And I am also impressed by the number of alternative forms of ‘stay-at-home entertainment’ available, like Idfa’s free documentaries, museums offering virtual tours and libraries offering ‘take-away’ book services. Hopefully, the 300 million the Dutch government set apart for the cultural sector will be enough to keep it going for a while.

But as the crisis touched our social relationships and people are shifting to this new ‘digital’ reality, I am wondering, what kind of consequences does it have for the way we interact with each other in the long run? How will companies rearrange the working spaces? How will we ever be able to attend any of the business and leisure events? In a recent article of Parool (in Dutch), Amsterdam clubs want to introduce an age restriction rather than sticking to the ‘1,5-meter distance rule.’ At this moment we can only speculate on how things will unfold.

As part of the speculations, we might see local raves and house parties being held, since the young (and slightly rebellious) generation don’t think too much about the consequences. I’m curious how this underground scene will be controlled though.

And what about meeting new people? How will those connections evolve and will we be more careful letting people in?

The society how I know it was pretty quick and always ‘on to the next thing’. The high pace we were living in was at times hard to keep up with, as FOMO was constantly breathing down our neck. Will this change? Will the slowness and uncertainty we are living in now lead us to deeper connections as we focus on creating small social circles of people we can trust? So many questions…

I do secretly hope we won’t go back to what we used to find normal. Maybe now it’s the time to accept the fact that we have to step back to see what’s truly essential and embrace this new future by creating a ‘selective’ culture of our own.

Shout out to those who helped me to collect my thoughts and write this piece. They know!