Is Internet Connection All We Have Now?
Like many people, I am currently thinking about human connection. About what ‘together’ really means, and how to make more of what we have.
Time means something new, I have both much less and a lot more. But the quality is different. With small beings swinging from my elbows from dawn ‘till dusk I have got better at being in moments of pure joy and amazement, witnessing their daily experiments with language, movement and moods. I also have moments of deep stasis in which the high-decibel commands of a red and yellow high-viz clad three-year-old with a megaphone are enough to induce a coma of sorts — a kind of necessary unplugging. And such is life now, always somewhere between two constants — presence and absence. Only ever here, and not here.
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I’m also wondering how we might put all those empty office blocks to good use. What together will mean, how we might sense community.
Will we ever be able to mingle in the kitchen, at a party again? Remembering a time when you could wriggle your way through sweaty shoulders and waving arms to the front of a rave, holding your best friend’s hand.
Holding hands, what an intimate gesture.
While we now have digital experiences to fill up segments of our days and nights with people outside of our immediate household, I’m not sure we yet have the kind of internet connection we crave. So far Zoom has proved to be draining. It feels a bit like junk food. Ultimately unsatisfying. Is friendship a multisensory experience? I see you with my eyes and hear your voice, but smell and touch play their part too. Will humans adapt to building Deep-And-Meaningful relationships this way?
Undoubtedly I feel much more connected in many ways too, to my family, my neighbours, the local community. Through a sense of soft kindness offered out to passers-by, as we cross the street or turn away, with a smile, at least. But I am also missing a community of colleagues to laugh with, huddle round the kettle with and share snacks.
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