The Culture Shock of COVID-19

by Andy Pearce

One of the first days after the stay-at-home order went into effect was very hard. I was in my bedroom for most of the day with my laptop, a good book, my Bible, and a couple of long-term projects to work on. Instead of being productive, I found myself feeling increasingly anxious and tense, and I also felt sadness. By the end of the day, I realized that I had not been motivated to do much. I became aware that I had been thrust into a very different experience due to COVID-19. Instead of an Indian lunch with an ISI co-worker, tennis with a Japanese researcher at Caltech, reading the Bible with an international student, and helping a Pakistani student with math, my calendar was empty. Then I realized that I was experiencing a form of culture shock. Maybe it could be called isolation shock!

We are all familiar with the term “culture shock” because many experience it when they arrive in a different culture. A Canadian anthropologist named Kalervo Oberg coined the term in 1960.

He describes culture shock as “precipitated by the anxiety that results from losing all our familiar signs and symbols of social intercourse.” Without a doubt, the isolation that has resulted from COVID-19 has taken away many of the “familiar signs and symbols” of my “social discourse.”

Oberg distinguishes four stages of culture shock: honeymoon, crisis, recovery, and adjustment. I realized that I was happy on the first day of being home. I had a chance to finish a book, watch a good Indian movie, get my desk and files more organized, take a long run, etc. It was the honeymoon stage. But then came the crisis. Some describe this stage as mild depression. It was like being in an unfamiliar country even though I was at home!

The next day, I made a list of the international students and team members I would normally be connecting with and began to message a few. I also initiated a couple of video meetings with several former students who had moved away. I had a good relationship with them, but I feel out of touch with them after they moved away. I was very encouraged when I re-connected with them. I felt that I had recovered.

The final stage is adjustment. I am now adjusting to the current social reality. Rather than feeling sad about the loss of the regular Monday English Conversation Class for Caltech internationals, I was encouraged when we set up the class to meet on Zoom. Amazingly, we had a few more attend than we had at recent in-person classes. Two couples who just returned to Asia even joined. The splitting into three groups to discuss our topic went very well despite not being face-to-face. The conversations were deeper than before. I am thankful for the tools God has given us to help adjust to the current isolation.

It was surprising to realize that I experienced the four stages of culture shock without leaving my home. Perhaps others are experiencing it (or will experience it) as well. A verse that has helped me considerably to cope with culture/isolation shock is Romans 8:28, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (ESV). So we know that if we keep our focus on the purpose to which we are called, even COVID-19 will work for good.