Dylan Yoder
Special to the
Rural Messenger
Living in today’s world is proving to be challenging for humans, to say the least. With COVID-19 canceling every social gathering, it seems as though humans are relying ever more on technology and the internet to carry them through these struggling times. For the youth, schools have moved to an entirely online presence through the use of video calling
technologies and “virtual” classrooms. Meaning that students must still attend school but lack the ability to have social interaction with their teachers and classmates. In some aspects, this is a good thing. Students can get a feel for what it’s like to manage their own time when dealing with schoolwork, which gives them an outlook on college life. On the other hand, people who can be classified as “social butterflies” tend to dislike isolation, and living during active quarantines isn’t necessarily their cup of tea. People of all ages are affected by the virus, whether directly or indirectly. But now that almost everything has moved to an online platform, will we ever fully return to our old ways?
Firstly, with every social interaction happening through the video camera it’s hard to imagine what life will be like when we finally get back to normalcy. Obviously, sports and other physical activities like sports will resume in person. But what about the businesses that have transitioned wholly to online transactions? Will they ever transition back to the way they were before the Coronavirus? In truth, it would depend on the type of business. After COVID-19, certain businesses may continue to function with a mainly online presence, job markets that can easily survive online and could be functioning smoother for it. Perhaps, even schools will continue to have a large chunk of their homework assigned in an online format, even after this virus has run its course.
Secondly, the online world has bolstered since the start of the virus. With the virus running rampant in the physical world it’s not hard to see that the virtual world has been increasingly more and more active. After all, what else are people going to do when they’ve been in self-quarantine for more than thirty minutes? People are socializing online, playing more games online, and if they can, working online. In some ways, this is a good thing, while we wait out the storm we can enjoy the company of virtual humanity as we go along. In other ways, staying strictly to an online presence can get boring, and in some cases, aggravating. Not being able to talk to people in person takes a toll on people that tend to show more extroverted tendencies.
Lastly, we must remember to take the time to slow down and take some time for ourselves and unplug. In the midst of the chaos that is the world, we have been given the time to be alone and isolated from society. While some may look at that as a bad thing, you have to make the best of every situation, and taking time to yourself can prove to be therapeutic. For the “social-butterflies” out there, you can be thankful that we have the internet to allow the continuation of social interactions. While it may not mean as much as meeting a person face-to-face it still provides you with some form of communication
to others. For the ones that crave their alone time, well, you can be grateful for the excess of time you now have on your hands. Regardless of what you may prefer, socializing or living as a hermit, remember that we are all in this together, quite literally.
