How are you?
After over 90 days under quarantine, with millions stuck at home, those three words most of us just wish we can hear. We live in a world where it almost feels we’re all interconnected, but in reality, we’re slowly drifting apart from each other. How can this be? It’s much easier to connect with others, either through social media platforms, private messaging or email, but there’s a growing trend to building walls around us.
Take a minute before you continue reading to recall how you had meals before during family gatherings? Or even at home every day. I remember everyone just sitting and having conversations on how their day went. What was new with work or school. Most of the conversations were light and fun. Usually accompanied by a little ribbing and teasing, specially towards the younger ones.
But today? Chances are, people have their gadgets beside them at the table. Some seem to be unable to detach from their gadgets. It’s as if we’re together but so far apart. People just want to finish their meal so they can stand up and continue fiddling with the phone or tablet.
This is exacerbated even further with our dealing with the outside world. In the new digital world we live in, people end up spending hours daily just binging on Netflix, or stuck on various social media platforms. But in doing so, we forget about the real world. We’re too engrossed with chatting and seeing what’s happening with people halfway around the world, that we forget about those just a room away or family and friends living across town.
In this current situation, it’s sometimes understandable that many choose to detach from the real world. With so much gaslighting by some talking heads who are supposed to encourage unity, coupled with the problems caused by SARS-CoV-2 and the way many things have been mismanaged, many are so frustrated and fed up that they opt to drown it out by just indulging in activities that make them temporarily forget about the concerns of the world. Spending hours online every day.
But in doing so, we also detach from people we know. Yes, some would argue that they still keep in touch with others by looking at their feed/timeline. Liking or commenting on their posts. THAT is the new way of saying hello. We need to move AWAY from that. We need to rekindle human interaction. We need to make sure our family doesn’t forget how we look or how we sound like.
So take time every day to call people you know. You can do it through a regular phone call. You can even call using videotelephony. You might be thinking it’s going to be good for them that you called. But in many instances, YOU will feel better. Getting updated on what’s happening with them. You’ve probably interacted with many only on social media. It’s different when you hear a human voice, instead of just reading a message on your phone or computer. Take 20 minutes a day to call someone or some people. You can choose not to talk about politics but talk to people. It’s good for your mental health.
Now, if you want to take it even a step further, why not write a letter? Yes, you’ll tell me it’s hard to do that now. You’ll need to go out of your home, head to the post office or courier to send a letter. In the process you’ll interact with a number of people, exposing yourself to the virus.
But here’s an idea… Why not write a letter, and just scan it, and send that through email? Or take a picture of your letter and send it through messaging apps (jpeg or PDF)? The recipient will not just be reading an ordinary email from you, but an ACTUAL LETTER. That YOU wrote. I know. Some people like myself have bad penmanship. Chicken scratches, according to a gradeschool teacher of mine (I’ve since improved considerably). But it sure is better to read something that you wrote, instead of reading a computer text. It provides a personal touch. It shows you took the extra effort to do it. And at the end of the day, knowing you took the extra time to do that will not only bring a smile to the person you sent the letter to, but also you. It’ll also help you with your (not you’re) grammar!
As for the young who’ve probably never sent a letter through the post office, it’s a good exercise for them, especially with classes going blended which results to an expected lowering of face-to-face classes, this could help compensate. It also encourages not only the young, but the young at heart to compose their thoughts before writing. A valuable lesson which they will surely benefit from when they go on social media.
The point really is... We need to foster HUMAN interaction. We need to remind ourselves how it is to be human. We need it most especially during these times.
Stay safe. Stay healthy.