This past year has held its share of challenges for me. In March of 2020, my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer and immediately started chemotherapy. The COVID-19 pandemic occurred simultaneously. Our state shut down which also meant we immediately were not able to return to school for the remainder of the school year. Due to my mom’s condition, we quarantined for the duration of her treatments, which was the remainder of 2020. Therefore, I certainly understand firsthand the impact on social interactions the pandemic had caused. One way that everyone has been affected one way or another is regarding social interactions. Maintaining healthy relationships involves effective communication. The pandemic has really put a strain on relationships, as it has resulted in people being divided and isolated. Communication typically now occurs with people wearing masks and maintaining a safe distance of 6 feet. Most often, interactions occur via avenues such as zoom or face time calls. This social isolation is not healthy long term and has long lasting effects on how people interact with one another that will continue even after the pandemic has ended. In a recent study conducted at the College of Arts and Sciences Department at the University of Alabama, Dr. Tim Levine noted several long-lasting effects that social isolation can have on future relationships and communication patterns. In this study he noted, “The less contact we have with other people, the more we become suspicious of other people. As a result, others can become more defensive and lead to a vicious spiral where isolations leads to suspicion, which begets defensiveness, which reinforces the suspicion and leads to further isolation as a self-fulfilling prophesy.” Social isolation during the pandemic has resulted in an increase in mental health concerns, substance abuse, and domestic violence. Furthermore, research noted in a study conducted in March 2020 by American Affairs, suggests when the pandemic began, more than 2 million Americans purchased guns, which raises concerns for increased numbers of suicides moving forward. With the social distancing that had occurred over the course of the pandemic, almost every area of our lives has been disrupted. Many people now work from home, much learning at all levels of education is done virtually, sporting and entertainment events have either been cancelled or held remotely, many churches have closed or offer remote worship, and many locally owned businesses have closed permanently. Going forward, I think we will see many of these changes will be permanent regarding how we interact with each other. The Centers for Disease Control defines the social determinants of health as “the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, and age, as well as the complex interrelated social structures and economic systems that shape these conditions”. Unfortunately, we do not know how the changes regarding our social interactions will impact us long term, but if social interactions continue to decline or be limited, loneliness is likely to continue to rise, which poses a long term health burden. A positive side to the quarantines that have occurred because of the pandemic, is an increased education and reliance on technology. Many of us now have learned platforms such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams, face time, and live streaming various events, that we may have never attempted to use before. These various forms of social interactions have taught us ways to interact with people all over the world, virtually, in ways we did not need to rely on before the pandemic. Therefore, many of us have increased interactions with people by using these platforms. Many of us have expanded our use and education in regard to technology and will continue to use these various platforms moving forward.