The Skype/Zoom form of communication was
once a novelty, and then a secondary way of conducting business. COVID-19 made
it the primary way.
My kids, generation
Z/ Millennial, use text for “not in the mood or place to be seen” exchanges,
and faceTime/Skype/Zoom for “let’s hang out” times. It never seems a consideration to use the
phone the way we did, for voice only. To be fair, until Email that’s all we had for instant
exchanges.
But having to stare at a screen and having it stare back at you for hours on end during these times
of minimized in-person connectivity has brought about a kind of screen fatigue.
Young’uns, as well
as us old fogies, are using the phone to call and talk, no screens. I didn’t think I’d see that again.
Other strange rollback
is the minimization of using public transportation. That was the hip/environmentally
correct way to go only a year ago. Now it’s best to drive the family car and
better be in it alone, sans family. One car to a person? The horror.
And remember the
reusable grocery bag? That was the conscientious way to go. Now it isn’t
allowed. So if you walked to the store, just let them give you those darned
disposables to take your food back home.
But of all these
things, it’s the sight of young adults using the phone in voice-only mode, which
makes me think I went to sleep and woke up in 1990.
I wonder how to
reflect all of these^ in my current WIP.
