Amanda Lamb: Craving connection

So, it is fair to say that life has changed significantly for most of us. We are at home, working from home. Our children are going to school from home. We’re not going out to dinner, or to the movies, or to the mall or to the gym. Basically, for those who lived through it—it’s just like the 70s …

But what has changed is our ability to do just about anything we want to from home virtually. Before the pandemic, I only knew the word “Zoom” as the title of a children’s variety television show that aired from 1972 to 1978. Now, the word has a totally different connotation to me.

I’m using Zoom and Skype to meet with my colleagues, my book group, my family, my girlfriends. My children are using virtual platforms to go to high school, college and attend dance classes. Never in the history of our country, in the history of the world, have so many people used technology and virtual platforms to connect.

I think it has kept us productive. It’s kept us sane, and it’s kept us from feeling isolated. I also think because we are learning more efficient and less-time consuming ways to do things, many of these virtual connections will continue long after the pandemic is just a distant, horrible memory for us and our country.

I read the other day that the number of phone calls nationwide was up by 33% right now. Instead of texting, or emailing, because in the past we were too busy to take the time to call someone, we are now taking that time. It feels good to hear the voice of someone you care about, and even better to hear their voices and see their faces on a virtual platform.

Americans crave connection. For so long we’ve been on a treadmill. We decided we could always get back to someone tomorrow, or next week, because we were so busy. Have you noticed these days we linger when we talk to our loved ones? We talk about everything. We talk about nothing. We listen. We laugh. Why? Because now we have time.

It’s a reminder, to us, to our children, that taking the time to connect with the people we love, to listen, to laugh, to talk about things that matter, to talk about things that don’t matter—well that’s really the essence of life, isn’t it? What’s amazing is that it took a pandemic for many of us to be reminded of this fact.

Let’s not forget it…