One of the lessons that I have learned from this experience of staying home in quarantine is that I have a very complicated relationship with technology-- especially the relationship between a healthy computer/phone and managing my mental health while staying away from places & people I love.
As a Generation X person { born in the 1970s} I came into adulthood just as the Internet was becoming more mainstream. My earliest memories of computer-based communication are in the form of checking e-mail via the VAXA terminals in the library of the small college in West Virginia where I'd been studying { 200-2001 at UWF would see much more internet-based learning & communication} I'd be strategic enough to eat breakfast in the dining hall as soon as it opened-- then makes a quick beeline for the library and the VAXA terminal area.
Some of my posse from West Liberty used the computers much more than I did. As a matter of fact addiction to Internet Relay Chat { Remember IRC??} was a topic of discussion on campus. Back then, the new technology was interesting to me, but I lived my life in the real, physical world while using all five senses.
Fast forward to the present: I am middle-aged, living in Florida and stuck at home in the middle of a pandemic. Technology has evolved enough so that people can enjoy real-time video chat/meetings without leaving their houses. Facebook has evolved from a simple text-and-photo-based platform to a full multimedia outlet
We gather via Zoom and Facebook Live , and there IS a real sense of " togetherness" during these online events. The problem { at least for me} is that online interaction is not permanent. the compute is turned off after a Zoom session and I'm stuck at home-- not knowing when it will be safe to see my loved ones again.
It is an existence that most humans are not fit to live. Yet we have no other choice.
Technology is great--yet no virtual reality can replace face-to-face human community.
Stay heathy and sane....
~Sarah
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