Goodbye ZOOM year!
Goodbye ZOOM year!!
It is sad but true: the world has become square. At least in regards to our relationships and the world of things that move outside of our homes and families. From one day to another, we all woke up to work, study, exercise, dating, meetings, parties and whatever you can think of over the internet. And all inside a little box on a screen.
ZOOMING back on this year, I can say we all have become pretty savvy. While our children figure out ways to E-cheat on their tests, our parents learn how to use the internet and make Tik Tok videos. There are no more calls saying “Come visit, I cannot operate this ZOOM thing!” It is a case of life or death, either they learn it or they will have no contact with their children. Or worse, kids will come visit bringing you know what under their masks, on their clothes and hands.
And I can say we were not ready for that.
I recall numerous situations during my family’s virtual meetings that in other circumstances would have cost us a million dollars in therapy.
There was the day when my daughter needed her GYM equipment and as all teenagers she could not wait until I finished my shower. I could hear her screaming “MOOOOOOM” as I rushed to get the shampoo out of my hair. As most parents, I felt the urge to help my little teen with whatever situation was making her sound worse than a NYC ambulance rushing to its emergency call. As I rush out of the shower, I jump right in front of her entire class in my favorite bathrobe and my hair dripping water all over the floor: “There is no way I am paying for that class Julia!! You can tell your instructor!!”
What about online school? Well, I’ve heard how lonely online school has become for kids. “If I could only have one friend to be with me during class! We will do all the work together I promise!” Oh well. Next day, as my daughter takes her Biology class, her friend walks behind her wearing … A COW costume!! Not wanting to interfere with class of course, I noticed the teacher couldn’t care less.
As for work meetings, I saw colleagues in PJ pants, husbands in underwear in the background and the most urgent noises coming from the bathroom. Now that’s what I call intimate online moments.
The truth is that we can get used to anything. Our survival skills always send us the message and whatever seemed strange in the past, quickly becomes our new normal.
As we watch all possible Netflix series, attend another Zoom wine tasting or go on a refrigerator eating spree, we all wish to have our world back. We long for the hugs, the personal encounters, the meetings and even miss that really annoying boss that used to tap on our back every time he tells the worst joke and you feel obligated to laugh. Yes we miss it all!
And as we plan for our online Christmas and New Year’s events, we exercise our newfound creativity. We try to plan a virtual Secret Santa, an online dinner and a family gathering where you will have the advantage to turn off the volume every time someone is starting an argument. Yeah folks, this year has been pretty awkward to say the least.
As we prepare to enter 2021, we all share the same hope, a solution to this Pandemic, that will bring back our world as we knew it.
About the Author:
Ilana is a journalist and entrepreneur from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She is passionate about helping people find their voices and pursue their dreams. It is never too late to start and never too early to change.
