COVID-19 has caused significant changes to the societal norms of touching behaviours, resulting in wide-spread touch deprivation and its negative impacts. Upon listening to Anatomy of Touch (BBC Sounds 2020), I was prompted to reflect on both my own and others’ experiences following the COVID-19 restrictions.
From early on in the pandemic, it was made clear that COVID-19 spreads easily between those who are in close contact (Nussbaumer-Streit et al. 2020), so consistent public health messages stated the importance of maintaining physical distancing (Durkin et al. 2021). Physical barriers and signs (figure 1) were found in almost every public place and reinforced the prohibition of touching.
Figure 1. Social distancing sign (Wikipedia Commons 2020)
Resultantly, we quickly experienced changes in touching behaviours such as hugging and handshaking on a global scale – not to mention the impact of lockdowns causing many to be “isolated and alone for weeks or months with no physical contact” (Durkin et al. 2021, p4). Our previous social norms of touching were severely and abruptly disrupted as society generally complied with government guidance.
In the height of the pandemic, it was almost impossible to not see social distancing or cleaning measures everywhere you looked in an urban area. This enhanced the fear I felt towards the virus, as well as the fear of coming into close contact with other people. I found it strange coming out of lockdown restrictions for the first time and being unable to avoid other people in busy places, particularly on trains. I felt unnerved being close to so many people and made sure to take many precautionary measures to reduce the likelihood of touching anyone or anything that I could avoid. Whilst I, and society as a whole, have significantly relaxed since then, touch anxiety and touch starvation still persist across society as the fear of the virus continues.
Pierce (2020, np) states that “touch starvation increases stress, depression and anxiety”, whilst Field (2002) found that the absence of affectionate touch can contribute to higher levels of aggression in adolescents. Whilst I experienced increased anxiety during the lockdown and periods of touch restrictions, I hadn’t previously linked the two together – although it is possible that they were related. I remember talking with friends about how much we missed hugging each other, despite not giving this much importance before lockdown. We only realised how important this small physical contact was after it was taken from us. Although hugging has now returned, greeting friends and acquaintances with a hug can sometimes pose a slightly awkward situation where it wasn’t previously, as each individual determines whether the other is comfortable with the associated risk of touching each other in a pandemic. Despite this, since the lifting of lockdown, the media has been saturated with emotional videos of family and friends hugging for the first time since the easing of restrictions (ITV News 2020):
Videos such as this demonstrate the importance of touch for humans, in terms of confirming close relationships between people as well as showing affection.
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Bibliography
BBC Sounds (2020) ‘Touch Hunger’. [podcast] Anatomy of Touch. Available at: <https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000n5f1> [Accessed 22 March 2022].
Durkin, J., Jackson, D., Usher, K. (2021) ‘Touch in times of COVID-19: Touch hunger hurts’. Journal of clinical nursing 30(1-2), e4-e5.
Field, T. (2002) ‘Violence and touch deprivation in adolescents. Adolescence, 37(148), p735
ITV News (2020) ‘Coronavirus: Loved ones in England hug for the first time in 10 weeks | ITV News’. Youtube. Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0JJYUgxdIc> [Accessed 22 March 2022]
Nussbaumer-Streit, B., Mayr, V., Dobrescu, A.I., Chapman, A., Persad, E., Klerings, I., Zachariah, C. (2020) ‘Quarantine alone or in combination with other public health measures to control COVID-19: A rapid review’. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 4.
Pierce, S. (2020) ‘Touch starvation is a consequence of COVID-19’s physical distancing’ – TMC News. [online] Texas Medical Center. Available at: <https://www.tmc.edu/news/2020/05/touch-starvation/> [Accessed 22 March 2022].
Wikipedia Commons (2020) ‘Signs for social distancing at shops during the COVID-19 pandemic in Brisbane, Australia’ [image] Available at: <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Signs_for_social_distancing_at_shops_during_the_COVID-19_pandemic_in_Brisbane,_Australia_02.jpg> [Accessed 22 March 2022].
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