[627467]

I agree that anyone who has lived or learned through great conflicts (world wars, bloody civil wars, great leap forward, etc) will have a hard time to compare this pandemic to any of that and yet, the reaction I see in many (too many) acquaintances is that of trauma. It's very odd because none of them have be directly impacted by covid yet but they are pretty sure it will happen and when it happen it will be nasty. So yes... In a very (millennial?) way, many people may imagine they are living through very traumatic times.

Watching Netflix at home, WFH, etc... While awaiting "certain covid" of course, its only for the privileged.

For the not so privileged the trauma can be easily compared to violent times: it's all about unemployment, domestic violence, hunger, collateral death, etc

[mercer]

It's not just about the direct impact of Covid, though. In my millennial-and-younger circles there are plenty who have been directly affected, but also many who still have work, but are deeply worried about their future prospects, not just when it comes to work, but also in regards to political turmoil and climate change.

They get a cat instead of a kid, they expect to never be able to buy a home, they expect not to have a pension and to enter the later stages of their life in a climate of turmoil and an ever-decreasing safety net.

Whether that's true, of course, is debatable. But it's been somewhat surprising and very painful to see how many of the 30-and-below people around me are utterly pessimistic about their future prospects on various axes. The pandemic mostly registered to them as a punch to the gut, and as something that probably accelerates a number of their other concerns. If anything, it /hasn't/ been too traumatic because they were already pessimistic.