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Paper short abstract

During the recent global corona crisis, or rather the implementation of measures in an effort to suppress the spread of the threatening COVID-19 virus, the phrase "new normal" became popular in many countries, as well as in Croatia. It captured the temporary routine of numerous "normalized" changes.

Paper long abstract

During the recent global corona crisis, or rather the implementation of measures in an effort to suppress the spread of the threatening COVID-19 virus, the phrase "new normal" became popular in many countries, as well as in Croatia. It captured and highlighted the temporary establishedness and necessity of changing behavior, habits, interactions between people, movement, education, socializing, meeting, greetings, etc. In addition to the necessity of changes that in various ways affected everyone's everyday life, the phrase also arose from the imminent end of the implementation of numerous measures to protect public health. The protracted new changes, after the initially announced two "crucial" weeks, ultimately stretched out over several years. With varying intensity, depending on the countries and their political leaders, they "normalized" the new everyday life for a while, but also provoked different reactions.

The changes that affected the “new normal” were initiated as a necessary medical measure. However, the acceptance or non-acceptance of the changes it contained raised legal, social, and especially political issues and turned, among other things, into ideological positions of a divided society. The divided positions have persisted to this day, when the “new normal” is no longer normal and when all measures to prevent the spread of the virus have been lifted, despite its continued survival and circulation among the population. By monitoring media content and numerous comments from social media users, I will, among other things, try to detect the echoes of the recent “new normal” in the Croatian general public.