Surviving Quarantine with Video-Chats

TJ Smith

Gardner

Sickomode Kangaroos

4-14-20

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2020/03/social-distancing-coronavirus-

videochat-facetime/608038/

This article tells a lot of stories that similarly show how facetime is connecting people

who cannot see each other because of the quarantine. It starts with a grandmother who lives

1000 miles from her grandson, but she loves to see his eyes light up when she sings to him, so

she video-calls and sings to him anyway. It shares another example of a family of 4 who are all

spread apart due to college and jobs, but they have relied on face-calling to see each other for a

while, and it is now even more important to them. Another interesting comment it made was

that because of this quarantine, people may be encouraged to have “more meaningful”

conversations with each other than they would have, “While the thought of indefinite social

distancing is stressful, the new reality might even spur people to engage in more frequent and

meaningful conversations than they had, when the next visit was certain to be only a few weeks

or months away.” The article is sharing all of this to say that face-calling technology is a great

way to cope with all of this, and it can help us to still stay close to those we care about even if

we cannot see them in person.

 Surviving Quarantine with Video-Chats

I have participated in more video-calls in the last month than I have in a few years. I love

seeing people in person, and I was really disappointed when my mom told me this quarantine

had to start, and then school was cancelled. Calling my close friends, and people that I care

about and miss, has helped me so much. I don’t feel completely trapped anymore, I feel like

this is just an interesting challenge but we’re all in this together, instead of apart. Every face-call

is really exciting, and surprisingly, this has brought me a lot closer to people I care about but

can’t see often or at all anymore.