Connected Virtually
This article is a part of series from 'The Unprecended Time: One Year of the Pandemic." I write this one year after the pandemic began. This is how I look back and remember what happened.
The pandemic lockdown drives us to the new level of 'connected virtually' wherever we are—no more distance boundaries. We are only as finger away from each other. And the best thing is affordable! You don't need a high-end gadget or pay the conventional phone call like 20 years ago (based on distance, local-interlocal.)
I experienced a lot of benefits from this technology years ago. Facetiming (video call) helps me have a long-distance relationship, managing the company, connected with my friends and family who live thousands of miles away.
This time, people connect virtually even though they live in the same town, just a couple of blocks away.
The screen that connects us
We have several options to do video calls: Google Hang Out, Zoom, Skype, Instagram, Whatsapp, and so on. But for meeting with more people, Zoom is the most popular, user-friendly, and could up to thousands of participants (paid service).
I already used this platform years way before the pandemic began. When I still lived in Jakarta. The traffic will drive you crazy, so we used Zoom for our weekly church production meeting to save everyone's time.
With this feature technology, we could give a lecture/presentation, attending a class/school, hanging out with friends/family, and gathering with thousands of other participants worldwide. You don't even need a laptop to get connected. As long as you have your phone/tablet and, of course, internet connection. If you want better results, you can always upgrade your video-audio gear, like a semi/pro broadcaster or podcaster.
The adaptable or the reluctant?
Surprisingly, when I told my Dutch friends, they don't know about this and reluctant to use it for their community's advantage. Well, not every Dutch, though. Some other Dutch friends know how to embrace new things too.
In contrast, by the time lockdown begins, my friends in Jakarta jump directly, using this technology for their daily communication channels for the organization/community. Without hesitation, adapt to the new way from offline to online communications. FYI, Indonesia and the Netherland start the restrictions almost at the same time - March 2020.
Well, wherever we are, we will always find that some people are reluctant to change, while others embrace it instantly. No matter what, people require to adjust to virtual connections for their daily activity sooner or later. Which side of you? Are you flexible enough with changes?
Work From Home
Work from home is actually not a new thing. For the last decade, we could work from wherever we are. Your main office and your house could be a thousand miles apart, managing through video call, and that's possible. Usually, this is a privilege for top management or a particular industry. Even though in Netherland, it is well-known that office workers also can work from home once per week.
But, when almost every office worldwide was forced to work remotely from home, it definitely never happened before, and it's a game-changer.
Working virtually, it's not the same as working from the office. The face-to-face interaction with your co-workers and friends is gone. No more poking around in the kitchen or hang out in the cafeteria with your co-workers. That's the fun part of working in the office, right? When we stress out, we could just relax a bit with friends.
Managing staff from your home, working virtually, developing ideas, arranging a meeting, team building (mostly) only via online?! That's a huge change and makes the job even harder.
If you already have kids, it's even more complicated—people working from home and juggling with their kids simultaneously. At that time, kids also have to learn virtually from home because the school was also closed. They also miss their friends. So, who's will teach the kids, playing with them, and working at the same time? The parents! That's why the parents easily get distracted between work and helping their kids and burned out. The boundaries between work and private become blurred. This is definitely a challenging time.
Some of my friends are grateful for the option of WFH. Because they are living with the senior family member at their house. The most high risk from the Covid 19 is for old people - the parents, grandpa, and grandma. So, they don't want to put their beloved at risk. Even though they can go back to work from the office, they prefer WFH.
Shoot from home
'WHF' also affects TV shows like Trevor Noah Daily Social Distancing Shows, Late Night with Stephen Colbert, and others. They need to shoot from their own house! Using everyone at home or their neighbor to help. The television industry needs to adapt to make TV programs, not in the studio and without a live audience. When you are used to having an audience, direct feedback, and suddenly you need to shoot everything yourself, almost monolog. That's ain't easy. Talking to the camera with or without the ambiance -atmosphere from the audience is a huge difference.
Fun things also happened when some news anchor live from their living room was caught with shorts! Because (mostly) people dress up only the top but yet wear shorts or pajamas. Did you do it too? Absolutely I did it too.
Down part
Many people also have trouble because they don't have the proper chair and table to work on. As we know, some people working at their dinner table, living room or bedroom. The trouble would come when you have to work long hours in front of the computer with the wrong posture. It could give you a headache, pain in the shoulder, and muscle ache. My friend's told me that her company was generous and thoughtful enough to send the equipment (chair & table) from the office to her house. But as we know that not every company able to do that. How many of you that lucky enough to work with a thoughtful company?
I don't know about you, but sometimes, listening to an extended hours virtual meeting is more tiring and more distracting than a face-to-face meeting. Sometimes the audio quality is not so good because the other participant or the host only uses a regular mic. It makes a sort of noise. Sometimes the quality of the video also not good, such as a wrong angle or bad lighting. Of course, not everyone able to upgrade their home device to semi or pro equipment.
The way we are hanging out with our friends or community is not the same anymore. You need to wait for your turn if you want to speak in the virtual meeting. Silent your mic if you are not talking. By the time we had a chance to say something, it feels weird because there is no direct feedback. We listen to someone talk, but at the same time, we also say something in the chat room. Teasing our friends is less pleasant than it used to be.
The bright side
This season is like a blessing in disguise for me. I reconnected with my connect group - DATE Westmark. They are my biggest support system, especially during these unknown seasons. I could also join several online classes and conferences from Jakarta, USA, London, Sydney without leaving my house! How great is that?! We don't have to spend thousands of Euros on plane tickets and accommodations just to attend a class/conference. The price ticket for the conference is also cheaper. Of course, the experience level is different, but surely we still learn something. The bonus is we could replay some of the classes.
It's so good that we can still connect to each other. Even though not the same and feels like something missing. The screen cannot replace the power of face-to-face interactions or the atmosphere of people gather in one - no matter how sophisticated your equipment is.
At least we are not isolated 100%. We connect to our friends and family without borders and in an affordable way. We will always find things to be grateful for even though it's not as good as 'old normal' communications. Like it or not, we need to make peace with the new normal living.
Look how far we are now. One year passed by, and we still living in the pandemic. Yes, some countries start to opening up again for the people able to gather again with some requirements. But, we are not yet back to the 'old normal' and definitely not yet safe 100% even though we are vaccinated.
Connecting virtually becomes our new usual way of living. Remember that humans have a remarkable ability to adapt and adjust.
We are surviving, right?!
