As public health officials across the globe urge people to stay home to slow the spread of COVID-19, roommates, partners and families are navigating new ways of life with new challenges — and sometimes, additional conflicts.
“Do what you can to ask for space when you need it,” recommends TC’s Peter Coleman, a peace studies expert and Director of the Morton Deutsch International Center for Cooperation and Conflict Resolution, who recently spoke to WIRED about how individuals can better resolve conflict in the unique living circumstances created by the public health crisis.
Setting boundaries about space, time and communication, Coleman says, is also a key approach to making living dynamics more sustainable. Positivity, he notes, can also go a long way. “Negative encounters go much deeper—they are remembered much longer and have much more of an impact on our experience in our relationship than positive ones.”
For advice from Coleman and other experts, read more in WIRED.