China News Service, May 9 (BBC) Chinese network published an article on the 9th, saying that in the new coronavirus epidemic, people keep distance from each other to avoid physical contact. After the blockade is slowly lifted, will people restart shaking hands?
The article said that handshake is ubiquitous in our society. Strangers will shake hands when they meet for the first time, and billions of dollars in business transactions will also shake hands.
The origin of the handshake varies, and the earliest may have originated in ancient Greece. Two people reached out to each other to symbolize peace, showing that no one was carrying a weapon.
The handshake may also have originated in the European society of the Middle Ages. The knights held each other ’s hands to try to shake down the hidden weapon on the other side.
Cristine Legare, a psychology professor at the University of Texas, said that handshake is the evolution of human beings into social animals, the symbol of tactile animals, and the gesture of human connection.
The culture of shaking hands has a history of thousands of years, and it may not be easy to abandon it completely at one and a half times.
Etiquette
However, in human history, there are also many cultures that do not shake hands. For example, the Indians folded their hands together, which is one of the well-known etiquettes for meeting in the East.
In Hawaii, people meet and greet people with a "shaka sign", which is often seen in American surfing culture. Former US President Barack Obama, who was born in Hawaii, often greets people with this gesture.
In Samoa, people greeted by "provoking eyebrows" and a smile.
Resist handshake
Val Curtis, a behavioral scientist at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said that the reason why shaking hands and kissing cheeks is one of the ways to say hello is because it shows that each other has enough trust , Willing to risk the exchange of bacteria.
In the 1920s, an article in the American Journal of Nursing warned that hands are a medium for the spread of bacteria, and suggested that Americans use arched hands to greet people.
Before the outbreak of the new coronavirus, there was medical advice against the handshake. In 2015, the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) hospital set up a "handshake-free zone" in the intensive care unit, but the policy only disappeared after only six months.
But even if there is sufficient evidence of medicine and science to support the movement against handshake, the movement of handshake is still spread all over the world, especially in professional workplaces and formal occasions.
The future without handshake
But now that the New Corona Virus pandemic has caused humanity to reflect completely, in the foreseeable future, the gesture of shaking hands is likely to be no longer popular.
Anthony Fauci, an American epidemic prevention and health expert, said: "Frankly, I don't think we should shake hands anymore. This not only prevents the new coronavirus disease, but also greatly reduces the infection of influenza."
Reaching out and touching is a human instinct, and shaking hands is also based on this psychological factor.
"Nature is hard to change", but Elke Weber, a professor of psychology and public affairs at Princeton University, believes that when there are major changes in society, economy or public health, long-standing habits and social customs will change.
Shaking hands can also be the next abolished custom. There are many alternatives to the above-mentioned non-handshaking etiquettes such as folded hands, arched hands, and “shaka gestures”.
For example, bowing, waving, smiling, or nodding greetings can be used instead of shaking hands. The way to touch fists, elbows, or feet is different from handshake, but it still involves physical contact.
Shaking hands without shaking hands
Professor Ligar said that the cruel reality brought about by the New Coronavirus epidemic is that the more desperate and the more stressful, the more we rely on the physical comfort brought by physical contact, and physical contact is just the way to spread the epidemic.
Professor Weber said that abandoning handshake and abandoning physical contact is a violation of nature, but people are not overreacting, in fact, the opposite is true. "Survival is also one of human instincts."
The article said, but do n’t give up hope that one day we can shake hands again, as Arthur Markman, another psychology professor at the University of Texas, said, avoiding disease is the instinct of human survival and live a wonderful life. The same is true of social life.
"Maybe we can focus on washing our hands frequently and cultivate the habit of not touching our faces, instead of completely eliminating physical contact."
The reality is that in a period of time in the future, we will face a new normal life without physical contact, and we may not even find that people no longer shake hands.