Check out the Multicultural Minds podcast episode where Skip the Small Talk founder Ashley Kirsner shares their biggest mistake when first hosting Skip the Small Talk and how they continue to address it. Ashley also talks about some surprising examples about how they’ve considered inclusivity in designing events, like how they account for different communication styles specific to different cultural traditions and different types of neurodivergence.
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The pandemic has changed the way we experience social situations. A particularly interesting and inconvenient social impact of the pandemic is that a lot of extroverts are reporting feeling more drained by social interaction than ever before. What gives? Is the pandemic turning extroverts into introverts?
Not exactly. We can attribute a lot of this phenomenon to an unexpected culprit: masks.
While masking up was a lifesaving thing that was absolutely worth whatever social cost they’ve imparted to us, they are likely to be a huge contributing factor to why in-person socializing can feel so draining these days, even for folks who would normally otherwise feel energized by socializing. So while we should absolutely keep masking up (masks are saving lives, after all), there may be some reason to think about the social cost of wearing masks and how to address them without giving up our masks. Here are a few reasons why.
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Lots of articles are covering how socially awkward we’ve gotten ever since a lot of us have started socially isolating. But I’ve noticed a second, stranger social phenomenon lately that nobody seems to be talking about.
The pandemic has led us to become more critical of how we interact with others.
I hear it all the time these days— folks tell me that they should have done or said things differently in even the most mundane social interactions. A lot of people are having more invasive thoughts, more frequently, regarding how they could have or should have behaved differently. And a lot of folks are making negative assumptions about how they’re perceived by others.
Why is this happening? And why is it happening now?
Here are some psychological phenomena that might help us understand what’s going on.
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It’s a weird time in history to be thinking about having fun. We’re still chugging along through a worldwide pandemic, a lot of us are depressed and anxious from years of social isolation, and “having fun” may not even sound appealing anymore. But the reality is, there’s a ton of research out there showing that fun and play are healing. If you need more proof, Catherine Price has recently written a whole book about the importance of fun and how to have more of it.
So here are some tips for having more fun, even when fun sounds like the last thing you want to do.
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We’ve fielded a lot of requests lately for Zoom icebreakers, virtual icebreakers, and online team icebreakers, so we thought we’d share some good icebreakers for Zoom office check-ins, virtual friend/family reunions, and pretty much any other online gathering of humans you may find yourself in. We hope you’ll discover at least an icebreaker or two that’s appropriate for whatever occasion has you logging onto a video chat!
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