I like to joke that pre-covid was BC times (Before Covid), like BC and AD, because it feels like so long ago, like a crossover into a different type of world. It put the geriatric in late stage capitalism; which is a silly way of saying that it feels like it sped up the decline/decay. Hard for people to buy into capitalism if the usual concept of a "normal life" is going extinct before their eyes, leaving them with no hope for a stable future.