Living a virtual life in real time, courtesy corona
How happy they are with their virtual classes but they miss their friends terribly and evenings turn into drama parties for parents to handle
“It’s interesting how coronavirus has got the entire world to live virtually in real time and finally the revelation has happened,” I said looking up from my phone.
“Throw some light,” came the swift inquisition from my husband, who had his eyes racing across the news bulletin for quite some time until now.
I went on rambling in my mind about how human lifestyles had become too fast-paced to be lived efficiently and without a warm sense of ‘hygge (coziness)’ as the Danes would put it.
Until, came corona and everything got bombarded in a lockdown, but for everyone’s good I’d say.
My husband now looked up at me, sensing the silence and waiting for me to illustrate my statement. So I began.
“The spicy gossips that happened over card games and kitty parties have now switched over to online Ludo and WhatsApp groups. Similarly, when poori-chana were made on Sunday, close friends were invited over for brunch or home-baked cakes were shared over tea or coffee. Now they are shared on Instagram.”
“Now this sharing doesn’t lead to any olfactory satisfaction among friends in reality but since these turn into popular internet trends, so the poor things have to keep up with it, whether they like it or not,” I went on.
“Hmm, so it’s like I shared my cake, now you share yours,” added my husband as my kiddo raced across.
“And just look at the change in the lives of the kids! How happy they are with their virtual classes but they miss their friends terribly and evenings turn into drama parties for parents to handle. Yet there are many children across the country that do not have access to computers and sadly are also missing out the meal provided at school. There will be consequences of schools being shut down for so long.”
My husband looked thoughtful now. “You’re right! It won’t be easy to bridge the gap of holistic learning and of course deal with the screen addiction.”
“Yes, so...there are also people posting pictures of working from home, on their laptops with a cup of black tea by their side, telling tales of how happy they are of this new trend of virtual offices across the IT sector, while others are complaining how monotonous it is to work from home!”
“By the way, almost everyone has started reading newspapers online these days. It’s all getting digitised. At least, many trees will be saved.”
My husband shook his head in disagreement: “Dearest, you will be flooded with fake news and targeted with algorithms if all you do is read from online portals. It will be no good for society to do away with the traditional print media.”
“But what is the big revelation?” he asked in a serious tone , zooming on to my first statement.
I turned to look him full in the face: “At last, humankind has realised how vulnerable it can be.”
harleen.gurunay.majithia@gmail.com
The writer is a freelance contributor