Will the coronavirus make permanent our diminishing need for human contact?

A woman wearing a face mask walks before a screen displaying preventative measures against the novel coronavirus, at Dongdaemun Design Plaza in Seoul, South Korea. In South Korea, increasing numbers of young adults had been self-identifying as 'honjok' – loosely translated to 'tribe of loners', people who prefer solitude. Businesses realised more and more people preferred services devoid of human contact, and would even pay a premium for it. — AFP/Getty Images/TNS

SEOUL, South Korea: Before dawn, bags of groceries ordered online are plopped at my front door by deliverymen (-women?) whose faces I'll never see.

I summon taxis on my smartphone, rendering unnecessary even the brief conversation to give the driver my destination or discuss an optimal route. All manners of food – from steaming stews to sushi to the seemingly most ephemeral of dishes, shaved ice – can be ordered for delivery within the hour. If I so choose, I can avoid even a split-second of face time by requesting, in an app, that the food be left outside my door.