Courtship in times of Covid-19: Affectivity during the National Journey of Healthy Distance in Mexico

Abstract

The physical distancing as prevention of Covid-19 contagion modified the ways in which we relate to each other, reconstruct our daily lives, express affection and reconfigure meanings. This paper presents the results of an investigation whose objective was to learn about the changes brought about by the confinement during the National Healthy Distance Campaign in the practices of courtship, the role that information and communication technologies have played in the construction of affective bonds during the pandemic, and the meanings of love in times of Covid-19. A mixed study with a descriptive-interpretative design was carried out, a virtual questionnaire was applied to one hundred young students of health sciences from Guadalajara, Jalisco and from the Centro de Enseñanza Técnica Industrial. Among the results obtained were that the young people saw their partners less frequently, so they resorted to social networks to stay close, the healthy distance with their partners was not maintained, the house became a "cinema", "restaurant" or "café" as a way of compensating for the closure of the places that the young people frequented before the pandemic. For them, love overcomes everything and the pandemic is a test that reinforces love, so it is worth implementing strategies to be close to the loved one despite the confinement.