Hey Pandas, What New Things Did 2020 Made You Do? (Closed)

If you ever want to humble a human being, don’t bother with a motivational quote. Just hand them a 2020 calendar.
One day you’re living your normal life (commuting, high-fiving strangers, pretending you enjoy office birthday cake),
and the next day you’re disinfecting groceries like they’re tiny biohazards and celebrating the rare luxury of “clean socks.”

That’s why the Bored Panda “Hey Pandas” prompts hit so hard: they’re basically a giant group chat for the internet’s
collective wait, that happened? moments. “What new things did 2020 make you do?” is the kind of question that
unlocks a flood of repliessome hilarious, some heavy, many weirdly wholesomeand a surprising amount of sourdough.

This article breaks down the biggest “new things” Americans picked up (or were politely forced into) during 2020:
habits, skills, coping strategies, and lifestyle pivots. Not the romantic “new year, new me” version. The real one.
The “new year, new survival mode” edition.

Why 2020 Turned Everyone Into a Homebody With a Spreadsheet

2020 didn’t just change schedulesit rewired daily life. Public health guidance pushed people to reduce close contact,
keep physical distance, and adjust routines to lower the risk of spreading illness. That meant fewer normal “third places”
(cafés, gyms, libraries, offices) and more everything-at-home, all the time.

When your home becomes your office, classroom, restaurant, gym, movie theater, and occasionally your “I need five minutes
alone in the bathroom” sanctuary, you adapt. Fast. Sometimes beautifully. Sometimes by eating cereal for dinner and calling
it “minimalism.”

The New Things 2020 Made People Do (Whether We Asked or Not)

1) Work (and School) From Home Like It Was a Normal Thing

Remote work wasn’t new, but in 2020 it went from “cool perk” to “mandatory lifestyle.” For many workers whose jobs could be
done from home, working remotely became the default rather than the exception. And once people settled into the routine,
a lot of them realized something shocking: commuting is not a personality trait.

The shift came with trade-offs. Some people gained flexibility and family time. Others gained back-to-back video calls and
the strange experience of hearing their own voice echo in a meeting while their brain exits the chat.

And speaking of video calls: “You’re on mute” became the unofficial national anthem.

2) Learn the Art of Video Calls (and the Pain of Video Call Fatigue)

In 2020, video conferencing exploded from business tool to everything tool: work meetings, school lessons, family birthdays,
virtual weddings, therapy sessions, and awkward first dates where both people pretend their Wi-Fi is the problem instead of
their conversation.

Platforms scaled at a pace that still feels unreal. Overnight, millions of people learned:

• How to position a camera so it doesn’t stare directly up their nostrils.
• How to look “engaged” while internally wondering if the laundry is judging them.
• How to choose a virtual background that won’t glitch and turn their head into a haunted jellyfish.

3) Social Distance Like Pros (Even If We Hated It)

“Six feet apart” became a household phrase. People got used to stepping aside on sidewalks, avoiding crowded spaces,
and treating personal space like a sacred resource. If you’ve ever seen someone politely “dance” around another shopper
in a grocery aisle, you’ve witnessed the modern choreography of caution.

This wasn’t just about rules; it changed social instincts. Handshakes became suspicious. Hugs became precious.
And anyone who coughed in public instantly became the main character in everyone else’s anxiety storyline.

4) Cook at Home… Then Bake Like We Were Training for the Great American Carb-Off

With restaurants limited and people staying home more, kitchens turned into the center of daily life.
Many households cooked more meals at home, and “What’s for dinner?” became a recurring group project
rather than a quick stop on the way back from work.

Then came bakingespecially bread. When yeast was hard to find, sourdough starters multiplied like
adorable science experiments. People swapped starters the way kids trade baseball cards, except with
more fermentation and fewer bubblegum stains.

Baking wasn’t only about food. It was comfort, structure, and a tiny sense of control: you can’t control
the news, but you can control whether your cookies have chocolate chips.

5) Turn Entertainment Into a Full-Time Hobby

When staying home became the norm, streaming surged. People watched comfort shows, tried new series,
and discovered that “just one more episode” is a lie that should be regulated by federal law.

It wasn’t only TV. Many people played more video games, listened to more podcasts, and rediscovered hobbies that
fit into a living room: puzzles, crafting, drawing, music, and whatever it is that counts as “home renovation”
when you own exactly one screwdriver and boundless confidence.

6) Try TelehealthBecause the Doctor Was Suddenly on the Same Device as Your Cat Videos

One of the biggest practical shifts was healthcare going remote. Telehealth use increased sharply in early 2020
as people looked for ways to get care while reducing exposure risk.

For many, it was their first time doing a medical visit from the couch. Telehealth helped with routine follow-ups,
behavioral health visits, medication questions, and triage-style conversations. It also introduced a new kind of
stress: “Is this camera angle medically appropriate?”

Telehealth isn’t perfect for every situation, but 2020 proved that a lot of care can be delivered effectively without
a waiting room and a six-month-old magazine.

7) Start Online Learning Like It Was a National Side Quest

With jobs disrupted and schedules reconfigured, many people turned to online courses to upskill, reskill,
or simply stay mentally busy. Online learning platforms reported major surges in new learners and enrollments
after mid-March 2020.

Some people learned practical career skills (project management, data analysis, IT basics). Others learned for curiosity
(psychology, writing, history). And some of us learned how many hours we can spend watching “beginner guitar lessons”
before admitting we were really just there for the soothing voice-over.

8) Adopt or Foster Pets (Because 2020 Needed More Emotional Support With Fur)

During a year full of isolation, a lot of households brought animals into their lives. Pets offered routine, comfort,
and a living creature that didn’t ask for “a quick sync” at 4:59 p.m.

But pets also brought reality checks. Dogs do not respect your meeting schedule. Cats do not respect anything at all.
Many people learned to plan walks, training, vet care, and budgetswhile also learning that a bored puppy can destroy a
couch with the focus of a tiny, adorable chainsaw.

9) Build New Mental Health Coping Skills (Some Healthy, Some Questionable)

Stress levels rose. People worried about health, family, jobs, and the general feeling that the world was spinning
with a wobble. Many turned to coping strategiessome helpful (exercise, therapy, journaling, meditation, social support)
and some… creative (doomscrolling until the phone hits your face at 2 a.m.).

The year pushed a lot of people to take mental health more seriouslyeither by seeking support, setting boundaries,
or finally acknowledging that “I’m fine” can be a complete sentence and also a suspicious one.

The Hidden Pattern: 2020 Forced Experiments in Everyday Resilience

When you zoom out (pun fully intended), most “new things” from 2020 fall into a few buckets:

• Replacing routines: commuting became walking the dog; gyms became bodyweight workouts; restaurants became home cooking.
• Replacing connection: hangouts became video calls; community became group chats; celebrations became drive-by waves and virtual toasts.
• Replacing control: when the big stuff felt uncertain, people controlled the small stuffschedules, bread recipes, decluttering, learning.
• Reprioritizing: many people rethought what mattered: health, family time, meaningful work, and boundaries.

It wasn’t always pretty. Some people thrived; others barely got through. Many did both in the same week.
But collectively, 2020 showed how quickly humans can adapt when the alternative is screaming into a pillow
(which, to be fair, still happened).

If You Want to Keep the Good Stuff (Without Re-Living the Bad Stuff)

A lot of “new things” from 2020 were survival responses. Still, some are worth keepingif they genuinely improve your life.
Here are practical ways to keep the good and drop the chaos:

Keep one “anchor routine”

In 2020, routines helped people feel grounded. Choose one daily anchor you can maintain: a morning walk, a set lunch hour,
or a short evening reset. It’s less about perfection and more about predictability.

Use technology on purpose

Video calls and streaming aren’t inherently badmindless overuse is. Try “intentional screen time”:
schedule calls you actually enjoy, and pick shows you want to watch instead of letting autoplay raise you.

Keep the skill you earned the hard way

If you learned to cook, budget, exercise at home, or take online classesthose are real skills. Keep one.
Not all of them. Just one. You’re building a life, not collecting badges.

Conclusion: The Year We Didn’t Order, But We Definitely Received

2020 made people do new things: work from home, distance socially, learn video calls, cook more, explore online learning,
try telehealth, and find new ways to manage stress. It also made people confront what they value and how they spend their time.
The Bored Panda “Hey Pandas” style of question captures that perfectly, because it’s not about a perfect highlight reel
it’s about the messy, funny, human reality of adapting when the world changes fast.

And if 2020 taught us anything, it’s this: you are more adaptable than you think… and also you own more sweatpants than
you ever planned.

Bonus: 2020 Made Me Do It500+ Words of Relatable Experiences

Let’s talk about the “new things” the way people actually describe them: not as bullet points on a self-improvement blog,
but as stories you tell your friendsusually starting with, “Okay, so this is embarrassing, but…”

For a lot of people, the first new skill was simply existing at home all day without losing your mind.
That sounds dramatic until you realize how many tiny routines used to break up the day: the commute, the coffee run,
the casual chat at work, the gym, the random errand that magically made time pass. When those disappeared, time got weird.
Monday felt like Thursday. Thursday felt like 2017. And suddenly the dishwasher became your most consistent coworker.

Many people tried home workouts for the first time. Not the glamorous kindmore like the “I’m lifting soup cans
while watching a shaky fitness video and hoping my downstairs neighbor forgives me” kind. Some discovered they loved walking,
yoga, or strength training. Others discovered that burpees are a personal attack. Either way, it was new: movement as a sanity tool,
not just a “beach body” project.

Then there was home cooking. Plenty of folks went from “I can make toast” to “I own three kinds of paprika and I have
opinions now.” People tested recipes because it gave structure: prep, cook, eat, repeat. And yes, a lot of us tried baking bread.
There was something comforting about a loaf rising on the counter, like proof that time still moved forward and not everything was canceled.
Some sourdough starters lived long, meaningful lives. Others died quietly in the fridge, next to forgotten takeout sauces.
We honor their sacrifice.

Video calls were another universal “new thing,” even for people who hated them. You learned to pretend you weren’t staring at
your own face. You learned to nod at the right moments. You learned the deep fear of a hot mic. And you probably learned that
every family has at least one relative who will talk for ten straight minutes while frozen on screen.

A lot of people also picked up online learning in some formformal courses, tutorials, language apps, DIY videos, or
“I watched six hours of gardening content and now I’m basically a botanist.” That urge made sense: when life feels unstable,
learning is one of the few things that still feels like progress. Even if the “progress” was just figuring out how to change
a faucet without creating a small indoor lake.

And finally, there were the emotional lessons. People learned who they missed. They learned how much they relied on
social connection. They learned what stress does to sleep, patience, and motivation. Some learned to ask for help. Some learned
to set boundaries. Some learned to laugh at the absurdity because laughter was cheaper than therapy (though therapy is also good).
The point is: 2020 didn’t only change what people did. It changed how people coped, prioritized, and rebuilt their daily lives.

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