Personal (im)mobilities

This chapter sheds some light on immobility in light of mobility, notably as far as the COVID-19 pandemic human experiences are concerned. The worldwide coronavirus experiences of individuals for their physical and virtual (im)mobilities, and even more so for their post-COVID-19 experience in this regard, may amount to some societal transitions in the relationships between mobility and immobility. This is so in at least two respects: the perception of immobility as a positive or negative condition, as well as its assessment as a continuum. Before the outbreak of the pandemic, physical immobility carried a negative connotation since it was considered a condition attributed to those in the lower professional and socioeconomic social strata. The negative connotation of physical immobility continued to persist during the crisis, but from yet another perspective, related to its rather imposed enforcement during lockdowns on all societal sectors. In post-COVID-19 times, numerous individuals, engaged in telework, may view free-will physical immobility as a rather blessed preference, following their positive experiences in this regard during the pandemic. The understanding of (im)mobility as a continuum carries a wider significance in that all individuals can be assumed to be subject to some constantly changing (im)mobility conditions, whether physical or digital. Thus, the relationship between mobility and immobility should be viewed as being like the relationship between mobility and fixity/sedentarity, in that both the mobile and the non-mobile conditions are there for most human beings, as normal conditions, at varying times.