Social Question

Jeruba's avatar

After "I feel naked without my mask," what comes next?

Asked by Jeruba (55827points) June 25th, 2020

I joked to my family the other day that we might start hearing people say this, now that donning a mask has become as much a part of going out as putting on shoes.

My son said he already feels that way. He has to wear a mask and gloves and a body covering all day at work. Now taking them off at home is feeling strange to him.

What’s next after that? I predict that people will start feeling a learned, socially reinforced disgust at seeing faces without masks: “Eww, I can see his mouth.” “And his nostrils!” “I don’t want anyone to see that much of my expression.” “I feel naked” becomes “She is naked”—how indecent!

What do you think comes next?

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12 Answers

Patty_Melt's avatar

Underground maskless bars.
New spring line of mask styles at Old Navy.
Shoes with free matching mask.
Pharms with switch your scrip get a free mask.
Halloween costumes with built in feature.

ragingloli's avatar

A new category on Pornhub, called “maskless faces”.

lucillelucillelucille's avatar

A friend of mine does not want to give hers up because she’ll have to start waxing her stache again.
I’ve been laughing about this for months :D

chyna's avatar

^Or start trimming nose hair again.

kritiper's avatar

”...So after putting on my mask, I walked out of the house without any clothes on.”

ARE_you_kidding_me's avatar

Interesting thought, only hardly anyone here is wearing them.

lucillelucillelucille's avatar

@chyna -I’d just wait to mow that until after New Year’s Eve as nose hair makes great party favors!

Pied_Pfeffer's avatar

Like @ARE_you_kidding_me, there are still a shocking amount of people wandering around inside public areas without wearing a mask. Hopefully, this will change quickly.

It would be lovely if US citizens would learn how to queue like it is done in the UK, with or without Coronavirus. Customers assess who is last in line and maintain an appropriate distance behind that person. Perhaps this will catch on and remain post crisis.

What I find most curious is how the pandemic will impact young children. With seven great-nieces/nephews under five years and one nine years, it will be interesting to see how they react to restrictions lifted, as well as the lasting impact of their time in their youth.

Patty_Melt's avatar

Children, a good point.
So much of human behavior, acceptance, trust, involve recognition of faces, and expressions. Could this skew any of that?

Jeruba's avatar

A woman with two young children just told me that her kids are afraid to touch things in their own house: drawer pulls, doorknobs, everything. (Everything, apparently, but their video games.)

Teaching kids to be afraid of everything is bad. Bad for them and for everyone else too.

Patty_Melt's avatar

I agree, but it is important to keep them safe.
Teaching kids to be cautious is good, but they process information in their own ways.
We don’t always know how much emphasis they need for any one thing.

I wonder if we will see a rise in OCD numbers.

Pied_Pfeffer's avatar

@Patty_Melt Hopefully, there shouldn’t be an increase in OCD cases. It appears that it is considered genetically related. If this is true, it may still mean that those who have OCD could experience it compounding.

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