Valerie B., Feb. 9, 2023
Each month – each week – the club, not just the members, is transforming. We’re growing, watching new members come on board, new speeches, new officers…
But perhaps the biggest change the club has seen just recently is its move to the hybrid setting. I’ve been in the club for about two and a half years, having joined the club when the pandemic was well underway and the club was already completely virtual. I’ve grown accustomed to seeing members only online. It wasn’t until the rare (as in, two or three) in-person meetups we had that we got to see members as they really are, in real life.
I believe our world has been reshaped permanently as a result of COVID. Mask-wearing has gone from “uncool” to a norm. Online industries have boomed. But most of all, now, more than ever, has our lives gone virtual. And I don’t think we’re ever going back.
It’s far cheaper and more efficient to telecommute now. No need for building costs, no need for transportation costs, no need for the myriad resources to maintain a home-away-from-home for the herds of workers. And those items that they all still need physically can be delivered. Lots of employees, and entire companies, have gone virtual. Once they’ve done so, it’s far easier to just stay that way.
And if we let ourselves, then soon we’ll live our lives almost entirely virtually, with little need to leave home.
But we miss something if we do.
I was reminded of this as I joined the club in-person at the library as we transitioned to hybrid. All the faces I’ve known only from a little square on my screen I now see in the flesh, as real people from top to bottom. It’s a whole new experience. Staying on Zoom provides some semblance of community, but for those of us in the library, there is a tight-knit atmosphere, all of us coming together as a club, simply shuffling around the room, coordinating the meetings together. There is a sense of place, of space, and of person.
Sure, we can all live the rest of our lives virtually. But it feels like only a shadow of the real thing. I hope we don’t forget what the real thing feels like.
(If any member has any responses or would like to say something, feel free to submit your own blog post here.)
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