The pandemic has readjusted our lives in so many ways. The most notable one, however, is maintaining physical distance and avoiding social gatherings. At this point, it’s almost impossible to see a group of people anywhere, and Americans are getting used to this.

Adjusting to the pandemic

When the pandemic was in its early days, people really had a problem maintaining social distance and had to be reminded verbally or with signs. When people later started realizing how effective maintaining social distance was against exposure to the disease, their attitudes changed.

According to a survey by OnePoll for LivePerson on 2000 participants, 65% of adult Americans can’t stand large gatherings and would do anything within their power to avoid standing in line. Another 72% are more comfortable if they have less contact with other people when traveling.

While 58% participants said that traveling was a nightmare for them before the pandemic, another 57% said that it’s less of a headache now. These participants find pre-pandemic traveling annoyances like packing clothes, checking into flights and hotels have been made easy by the pandemic.

However, some aspects of traveling are still hard, with a meager 17% saying booking tickets is easier now. Only another 18% believe planning trips, in general, is easier with the pandemic.

The research also shows that 63% of Americans have changed how they travel in the last year. This includes pandemic essentials like sanitizers, face masks, and disinfectant wipes.

Increasing annoyance

On the other hand, the pandemic has decreased the level of tolerance to some minor inconveniences. 61% of the participants admitted that they get annoyed more easily now than before the pandemic. They also acknowledged that otherwise simple tasks like unlocking phones, eating and drinking, and wearing glasses are now cumbersome with face masks.

Two-thirds of the participants also said that these annoyances include dealing with customer care. With Americans spending an average of 12 hours a month on the phone with customer service every month, 66% of the participants would appreciate never dealing with customer care again.