Since we've all started isolating, I've had the privilege to talk to dozens of people about their situation and how they're responding to COVID. While I cannot possibly list everything I've learned here, I wanted to try and summarize some interesting thoughts in a series of posts that I will be running for the next little while.
4 - Community Building
One thing that struck me early on during the lockdown, was how that innate desire for humans to be social manifested itself into all kinds of socially distant experiments, especially online. While Zoom is a poor substitute for in-person social interactions (zoom fatigue is a real thing), everything that used to happen in person, was tried online for a time, especially for people that were used to being highly social.
Now that we have the ability to have more in-person interactions, it's no surprise that a lot of those early online experiments have petered out. I've seen everything from temporary online co-working spaces (a zoom room where one could watch others work - a bit weird, but it actually was a decent way to remain social and make new friends), zoom brunches, zoom 50th birthdays and salon-style conversational forums.
One benefit of the isolation is that it gave us more time to enjoy one-on-one conversation and rediscover the joy of being present with others, for lack of other distractions. It makes for more meaningful conversations that create deeper bonds.
Despite all the hurdles, people find a way to be social, even if only in smaller groups and in a more distant fashion. This is the beauty of human ingenuity: our intense desire to be social finds a way, no matter how many hurdles we may have to overcome. A friend of mine has taken over the laneway behind his condo building and is having spontaneous socially distant parties every weekend.
What are some innovative social experiments that you've engaged in?
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