The life and tragic death of John Eyers - a fitness fanatic who refused the vaccine

[Sympthsical]

19. I have a napkin theory

There are two kinds of people in this world: people who are internally socialized and those who are externally socialized.

The internally socialized will observe social norms without any prompting. They do it because it's what they've been wired or trained to do. I'm internally socialized. No idea why. Parents, self-conscious personality, Midwestern culture. There are a billion reasons someone might be. But I'm always polite, never lash out in public. Just generally muddle through the day, whereupon I get home and let loose several cutting, expletive-filled observations about people to whomever is around.

The externally socialized only observe norms because external social pressure keeps them in check. Their impulse is to be a self-absorbed asshole, but friends, family, and strangers wouldn't receive it well, so they behave. Like a child who knows they're being watched. We all know these types. They might be fine at work, but then a blistering douche canoe at home.

Covid isolation took away a lot of external social pressure for a lot of people. The usual reinforcements to not be a raging dick just weren't there for a long period of time. Once they were unleashed upon society again, we're getting an eyeful. You mentioned traffic. We also have stories about restaurants and stores. Really, anywhere in public. People just seem to be worse.

I think it's the lack of socialization. The guard rails came off. And it can be very damaging. I have two teenaged nephews who lived with us for the first year because their single mom is a nurse. No school, no going out with friends. The changes in their personalities was highly perceptible. One became incredibly irritable at everything (even beyond what you'd expect out of a teenager) and the other fell into a pretty severe depression.

I think we're facing a mental health crisis. I think we were before Covid, but the pandemic just aggravated it all to an 11.