Verified by 
Key points
- Delta, Omicron, and authoritative predictions of even more worrisome variants will resut in more isolation and need for more counseling.
- Venerating the collective over the individual could cause people to feel unimportant and thus benefit from counseling.
- Remote learning will be difficult, especially for those who find it hard to pay attention even in-person. That creates opportunities for tutors.
The following predictions have implications for all of us but may be of particular relevance to psychologically attuned people as well as to psychotherapists, counselors, and coaches.
COVID-related Predictions
COVID variants have mutated into more serious variants, from the original through Delta and now Omicron. And a just-published article in Nature predicts that even more worrisome variants are on the horizon, So it appears that, in 2022, COVID will have a continuing and perhaps increased impact on our lives, practically and psychologically:
- More isolation. Extroverts will be especially hit hard if, as predicted, new restrictions on gatherings are imposed. That would create an increased need for counselors who specialize in coping with COVID isolation, COVID-related fears, and conflict within couples, as being together more tends to bring on more strain. That was always the case for post-retirement couples but is now common in couples of all ages.
- AI companions. There is an increasing impetus to develop AI companions beyond the already impressive state of the art. For example, there's the Replika app, a customizable chatbot friend that users consider of sufficient value that it has garnered 179,000 reviews with an average rating of 4.6 on a 5-star scale.
- More effective COVID messaging. Efforts to get people vaccinated, boosted, and socially distanced will become more sophisticated, better balancing social pressure, fear, and positive words to motivate people without panicking them or making them rebel against the advice. Noticing such messaging in the media will filter down to how all of us try to get our friends to get vaccinated and boosted.
- Renters will spend to enhance their apartments. Spending to enhance one's house increased when COVID began. But now, with home prices ever more unaffordable, more people are living in apartments. That will likely yield an increase in purchases suited to apartment living—for example, indoor gardens and space-saving home office furniture such as compact sit-stand desks and so-called floating desks, which fold against the wall. And of course, there's the ever-less expensive big-screen TV. You can now get a top-brand 55" hi-def smart TV for under $400.
Predictions Based on Other Factors
More distancing. This will extend from the physical to the psychological, in the workplace and personal life. More people are on edge, not just because of COVID but because of political, race, and gender polarization. People are ever more cautious in what they say and write. Joking will be ever more circumspect. A New Year’s wish: It would seem that greater net good would accrue from hypervigilant people turning down their amplitude a bit while all of us do a better job of listening—really listening—to people whose views, while intelligent and benevolently derived, are different from our own.
All-In sadness. As was the case in the Soviet Union, Eastern-bloc, and other Communist countries, the diminution of the individual’s importance in favor of the collective made many people feel unimportant and sad, and too often succumb to alcoholism. In the U.S., there's an ever louder and pervasive drumbeat for collectivism: “All In” “Together, “We, not me!” While of course, the collectivist ideal has appeal, under-considered is its potential to engender all-in sadness. As with COVID isolation, all-in-sadness could be a specialty area for psychotherapists, counselors, and coaches.
A shortage of skilled tradespeople. The well-publicized shortage of entry-level workers will extend to skilled tradespeople who, behind the scenes, manufacture and distribute the products we need. If you're a soft-skilled person who is having difficulty landing a good white-collar job, your career prospects could improve if you pursued an apprenticeship and/or community college program to become a skilled tradesperson.
More K-12 schools will revert to remote teaching, which too often turns into remote non-learning. Already, some school districts—for example, the Washington, DC-area Prince George County schools—are reverting to remote instruction. Remote learning is difficult for many students, especially those who have trouble paying attention even in in-person classes. The reversion to remote schooling should create opportunities for tutors to remediate and/or supplement school-based instruction.
Parents rebel against college costs. This final prediction is a long shot, but it has surprised me that it hasn’t already occurred. Parents could organize for a tuition strike and not pay a college's exorbitant tuition. Or they might lobby for cost-control legislation to reduce colleges’ impossibly high cost. College cost has become an ever-greater problem because of degree proliferation: The pay bump from getting a degree is declining as an ever-higher percentage of high school graduates go to college and an ever-higher percentage of bachelor’s holders go to graduate school. The tipping point could be colleges’ refusal to cut tuition despite the lower costs of remote learning, students having a harder time learning remotely, and decreased extracurricular opportunities.
The takeaway
Predictions are notoriously imperfect, but if you meld these with your own, your decisions could yield you greater practical and psychological well-being in 2022.
I read this aloud on YouTube.
