Collected Item: “Muted Sense of Smell”
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Muted Sense of Smell
What sort of object is this: text story, photograph, video, audio interview, screenshot, drawing, meme, etc.?
Audio Recording – Story
Tell us a story; share your experience. Describe what the object or story you've uploaded says about the pandemic, and/or why what you've submitted is important to you.
COVID-19 re-created a living paradigm I had experienced living in Japan for many years of wearing a mask in public, usually on public transportation or during flu season. Although I did not wear it all the time, when I did wear it my sense of smell would of course be muted, or I would smell my own breath. It would also bring to my attention what I perceived others would smell when I spoke with them making me more self-conscience of my breath (and increasing gum and mint purchases). Although I found it uncomfortable, I would deal with it for the short periods of time it was necessary.
When the COVID-19 government responses in the US required the use of a mask in public, I found myself back in unpleasantly familiar sensation of having to wear a mask, but now one made of cloth, since disposable paper ones were hard to acquire or reserved for health care workers. Of course, said mask has been washed and dried with perfumed detergents further muting the sense of smell. What also made it worse was the fuzzy lint strings that existed on the inside of any mask (cloth or paper) that would tickle the nose and inducing a sneeze, unleashing a round of stares from strangers nearby.
Overall, I have grown used to it, but the behavioral shift in wearing, washing, gathering, and staging of a mask that has become a norm, and so has the muted sense of smell. Sometimes a blessing and sometimes a curse.
When the COVID-19 government responses in the US required the use of a mask in public, I found myself back in unpleasantly familiar sensation of having to wear a mask, but now one made of cloth, since disposable paper ones were hard to acquire or reserved for health care workers. Of course, said mask has been washed and dried with perfumed detergents further muting the sense of smell. What also made it worse was the fuzzy lint strings that existed on the inside of any mask (cloth or paper) that would tickle the nose and inducing a sneeze, unleashing a round of stares from strangers nearby.
Overall, I have grown used to it, but the behavioral shift in wearing, washing, gathering, and staging of a mask that has become a norm, and so has the muted sense of smell. Sometimes a blessing and sometimes a curse.
Use one-word hashtags (separated by commas) to describe your story. For example: Where did it originate? How does this object make you feel? How does this object relate to the pandemic?
#Masks, #smell, #nose-blind, #ASU, #HST643
Who originally created this object? (If you created this object, such as photo, then put "self" here.)
Matt Butow
Give this story a date.
2020-10-13