Man is least himself when he talks in his own person, give him a mask. And he will tell you the truth
- Oscar Wilde
Photo byGustavo Fring from Pexels
Few days back my friend Bobby told me an instance of how he had stepped outside without wearing a mask and realised it only when he saw others staring at him! Imagine wearing a mask and walking on the streets few months back. The Abnormal has certainly become the new normal!
Lockdowns might be ending in some places, but masks are definitely here to stay indefinitely. Masks have always been around, they just did not seem to matter much till now. Functionally, masks are supposed to protect the wearer by reducing the transmission of the virus though the research on its effectivity is still sketchy. So, what happens in the next few months with masks all around us?
For starters, not wearing masks, might actually lead to social stigma. Stares, deliberate distancing and all of that might come your way if you are not wearing a mask! And by a long stretch of imagination, if this prolongs (which I hope not), we might actually have a generation thinking that showing face in the public is s a taboo. Will we have rebellious amongst us refusing to wear masks, without a doubt. We might even have an unmask campaign the time we near the end of the pandemic! Scientifically, while running/exercising we breathe faster and harder and the panting might puff out droplets in larger quantities and throw them farther. That means for runners/fitness enthusiasts like me, even with a mask on (not sure if we can), the 6ft rule gets extended to 12 feet!
What I have found amusing is that for decades, cancer patients, medical professionals have worn masks yet making them stylish or more functional never occurred to us. Three months into the pandemic and we have labels vying to make masks a fashion statement; be it fashionably moulded shapes of masks or integrating masks into the fashion scene with matching gloves and socks! One of the side effects of wearing a mask is probably the inability to use facial recognition and some may use it as a smart way to avoid surveillance .
Peripheral innovations will probably see anti fogging spray for people wearing spectacles, quirky masks with zippers to eat and drink, companies marketing products with logos on masks (Walking Billboards anyone?) We might see companies giving away masks at events subtly nudging them to use in case they haven’t! Techies might include contact tracing, or notify people with a gentle beep when someone gets too close for six feet. I have seen makeup brands gravitate toward bolder eye looks, in the Mask Era…Maskara (excuse the pun!) Will we now see tan lines on face? That will be interesting!
Besides all the tech and cosmetic changes to our world with masks, what will probably affect us most is the way we look at each other. We will never know what is happening behind it, are they smiling, smirking or frowning. We have an entire industry dedicated to reading expressions. Wonder what the ‘let’s read expression’ industry will now turn to, or how will you sing "Tum ko dekha tho ye khayal aaya" Computers are better at detecting facial expressions than humans. With masks, that might also change.
Humor apart, masks limit information, when we wear masks, the other person has very little signs to read. Masks fortify facades and will change how we see one another and allow ourselves to be seen. We feel more comfortable when we’re able to assess what someone is like. Maybe we will get more expressive with the eyes, shrug shoulders or use eyebrow raises. But by the time we don’t need them, masks will have changed the spectrum of human expression.
I feel we will be more authentic in our expression. We may not fake a smile if we don’t like someone as he/ she cannot see it but unlike faking a smile, we can’t fake an expression through our eyes.
Behind every mask will be a face, and behind every face a story untold!
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