Coronavirus Lockdown Spanish Edition - Day 14 - Life goes on... online! (cont)

I honestly can't imagine this lockdown going this well, if it weren't for high-speed internet, social media channels, and video-conferencing options! (and I shudder to think what would happen should the internet collapse)

Ok, true that there are quite a few people out there who either don't have internet (don't want / can't afford) or are familiar enough with the options to make the most out of it, but I'd say a majority of the locked-in populations in Europe DO have a decent broadband connection, 4G on their smartphones (for when the wifi doesn't work), and know how to use them (or have someone to explain it) well enough to do video calls using FaceTime, Skype, WhatsApp, Viber or whatever else is out there. Some of these can also be used for group calls, or people can set up online meeting rooms in Zoom, AdobeConnect, Google Hangout or Meet etc. We've also got text and video messages flying at us from all directions (to the point we've all received a forward that recommends reducing the sending of video messages to not collapse or dramatically slow down the service with heavy files).

Feeling a bit lonely or isolated? Just pull out your device and video call a friend. Video, not voice! Nothing really substitutes the face to face, but "virtual" face to face can help. Since this lockdown started 2 weeks ago I've had a video chat with my mom (who lives 15' away) almost every day (interspersed with regular voice calls), several video calls with my sisters overseas, video calls with individual friends and several group hangouts. In fact in these two weeks I have probably spent more time hanging out and chatting with friends than in the past two months! Were we really all too busy before? Or did we just not make it a priority? Now we are each other's lifelines... Company for when we're feeling lonely, an audience to crack jokes with, therapists when we need to complain or commiserate about whatever... Our second day locked in I had a 5-way Skype call with close friends in Spain, Belgium, France and Austria. Last Sunday I had a 90' FaceTime call with a friend in San Diego.

Coronavirus Lockdown Spanish Edition - Day 13 - Life goes on... online!

So nothing for days 11 & 12 simply because I was angry and in a foul mood on Tuesday, and yesterday just so, so tired...

Much better today! I guess we're all going to have our ups and downs while being locked up, more than normal. To be expected.

I wanted something cheerful today... to celebrate that tomorrow's Friday so it's almost the weekend! Need to find ways to mark the different days of the week other than work yes/no. So I'm planning a "movie night" with the friends I usually go to the cinema with. If it works out I'll report back.

We've all be finding ways to do things with other people online. The simplest is work related. I'm spending the mornings all this week (and half of next) in lengthy Skype meetings with my colleagues in Vietnam to see what the situation is like in their universities, and to talk about how our project is going and how we can continue moving forward (within the Covid19 limitations).