Pros & Cons of Societally Advised Isolation

I can't help but be slightly amused at the isolation situations caused by the Corona virus.  It'd been advised by health officials, government officials, and various companies at which people are employed to practice self-imposed isolation if feeling sick just a few weeks ago, and now it's essentially mandatory in some states with public events and locations forcibly closed or limited by government mandate.  The reason I find the situation slightly amusing is my solitary lifestyle, and how I already generally avoided going out in public anyway.  Of course, with all the closings and limitations on public locations now, I can't even reasonably go out when I want to, so it's just some strange irony I'm experiencing.

As such, I've decided to detail all the pros and cons for me personally regarding this imposed isolation for the health and safety of the general public.  This is mainly a thought experiment and something to do in this extended period of staying home.  And so, here are the lists...

PROS

1. No work!  I don't have to go to work, so I can stay home and have fun instead!  This also means no work-related stress, which is abundant when it comes to working with children.
2. No plans!  Since I can't go out in public, I can't run errands, and therefore don't have to make plans to go run errands.  Plus, all my appointments with government-sponsored services were cancelled, so I don't have to go to those.
3. Sleepin' in!  With no work and no plans, I have no major motivation to get up in the morning, so I can just turn off my alarm clock and lay in bed for a few extra hours.
4. More time for hobbies!  Again, with no work and no plans, I can do all the fun stuff I do at home with little need to manage my time.  Play video games, binge watch, work on projects; I can do it all!  Plus, I can even make time to do projects I haven't done in ages!  Maybe I'll finally do some writing or make a new YouTube video...
5. Everybody's isolated!  I don't have friends to go do stuff with (or even friends to talk to), but now, since pretty much everybody has to stay home, nobody can go do stuff with their friends, and therefore I don't have to feel jealous about how other people have friends to do stuff with.  ...Wait, if everybody is stuck at home doing nothing, maybe my old friends might have a little time to talk with little ol' me?  Hmm...

CONS

1. No income.  Can't make money if I don't work, so my income's going to be nil pretty soon.  Fortunately, my job seems to be able to compensate me until March 27th, and I have my tax refunds to help cushion me.  But if this isolation goes on for months, I might be suffering financially.
2. Can't run errands.  So now that I have excess free time, I can't really use it productively.  I've been wanting to look into other locations to buy clothes, but if everywhere's closed, I can't go shopping.  Might also be difficult to buy groceries and other household necessities later on...
3. Can't go to the movies.  I wanted to go see Pixar's Onward in theaters, and since my sister is home from college thanks to this pandemic, I thought we could go see it together, but while the theater isn't closed, only 10 people are allowed in, so it's not convenient to try doing that.  Plus, she still has schoolwork to occupy a lot of her free time.  I hope this is over with by May so I can go see Black Widow...
4. All appointments cancelled.  With places temporarily closing down left and right, my appointments with services I need are getting cancelled left and right too.  I was counting on those appointments to help with my mental health and finding a new job, but now that's all on hold.
5. We're all stuck together.  As mentioned before, my sister's college has closed its campus, and everything's being done online.  So now my sister's home, adding to the number of people in this house, taking up space, using internet bandwidth, and making food I can't stand.  Plus, my mom can't go run errands, so she's stuck at home with less to do, and while my dad can still go to work, since I can't that's more opportunities for him nag me and yell at me for being a useless bum wasting my time playing "baby" games and watching "baby" shows.  Sure, the four of us are going to try to do some family activities, but since my selective interests are different from theirs, it can be difficult finding something we all enjoy.  Additionally, my willingness to due stuff with these people I've been around for the last 20-something years is ever-waning...

So those are the pros and cons I've come up with for me personally regarding this strange situation we as a society are in.  Before I end this post, I want to touch upon a societal concern that this pandemic is capitalizing on and could potentially impact things negatively in the long run.

I'm talking about people not doing things for themselves but instead paying others to do stuff for them.  Those services that let people have someone else buy their groceries or pickup their fast food/restaurant orders will likely prosper in this prolonged period of isolation, and I believe there is a valid concern that that will become the norm.  People will be increasingly less self-reliant and will want others to do things they are too busy or too lazy to do themselves.  Eventually robots will probably do all that for people, and we as a people will be entirely dependent on technology doing everything for us.  ...Just food for thought if things end up heading towards dystopia.

Good thing I was able to get a haircut before all the businesses were temporarily closed!  Until next time.

- William Winkeler