In the past several weeks, the entire idea of social interaction has been forced to adapt in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the need to self isolate. In this wake, daily interactions with friends, family, and coworkers have changed drastically. Everything from friendly get together and lunches with friends has all been replaced. Now instead of face-to-face time, it’s more so like screen-to-screen time.
People all over the world are shifting their social lives to various social networking sites and other online platforms. Social media are now what allow communication between close friends, classrooms, or even board meetings.
Zoom for instance has become a rapidly growing platform now new online classrooms as well as work spaces. The app allows a host, usually a teacher or manager of sort, to create a virtual meeting space in place of our typical lecture halls.
But even more than that we’ve discovered, Zoom can be used to connect with colleagues for after work or school activities.
“I like using Zoom to keep up with my family,” said Steven Stewart, a local father self isolating in suburban Connecticut. “Right now we can’t see each other physically, so this is a great way for us to interact and see each other, make sure we’re doing well. It’s actually a pretty nice tool to use.”
Much like Skype or FaceTime, Zoom has proven beneficial for social gatherings. People have taken to creating Zoom accounts for anything from happy hours or Sunday dinners.
Outside of mainstream media, there are many other social media platforms in which people have taken to keeping in touch with friends.
House Party is an app in which friends can video chat and play fun interactive games together. The app allows for multiple people in one chat, and is an interesting new way to keep in touch.
There are some of us who are even going a step further and being more creative with staying connected. One group of friends from Temple University have created a PowerPoint series of “quarantine diaries”, in which each slide is used as a personal platform for everyone involved to express their feelings in a new environment.
Through it all however, we see that people no matter what are still doing all they can to remain in contact with friends and family, those who matter most to us. And in a new, digital age, our technology has allowed us to keep up.
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