These COVID-19 times…
Dear Editor,
Home-bound, with a too-early curfew and nutten nah kip, the online world of work, study, play and dating has changed our daily existence for what feels like maybe a rather long time.
While we have all been impacted in one way or another, children and seniors have found their lives reduced to staring at screens.
We’re now six months into our version of quarantine, and our dear children have found their rambunctious world reduced to spending countless hours in front of a screen, either in a class, playing video games, or binge-watching on Youtube or Netflix.
Not that I’m a doctor, but there may be some effects in the not-too-distant horizon, including vision problems, behavioural changes, strange ‘Jamericanafrobrit’ accents as a result of feasting on all manner of foreign content, and, for some, growing waistlines from lack of activity and way too many snacks.
While our children get stiff necks and pot bellies, our senior citizens have found a new pastime. The days of knitting, crocheting, and basket weaving are clearly gone. Armed with their smartphones loaded with all manner of social media apps, our 60 to 70 somethings have resorted to sending everyone and their cousin, dog, and puss messages of doom and gloom, conspiracy theories, cure-alls, chain letters, puzzles to keep the mind sharp, cute pet videos, and pretty flowers. Out of obligation, one fights the guilt and opens them, filling their phone storage with more things to delete at a later time.
While we bemoan some of the woes, there is however the odd blessing in the midst. I love not having to iron uniforms, or soil a full suit, as only a shirt or blouse will suffice. Our children are discovering music on Tiktok and online and marvelling that their parents know the songs, not realising that the music isn’t new. My aging mother is now fully engaged until all hours of night when dog ‘fraid watching and forwarding memes that are circulating within her age cohort. It’s a refreshing twist on reading before bed.
As the days get a little shorter, and night falls sooner, let’s remember not to forget each other as we dive into our online abyss of trivia, while wearing a mask and washing our hands till kingdom come.