Editor’s Note: FII’s #MoodOfTheMonth for August, 2021 is Digital Realities. We invite submissions on the many layers of experiences from the virtual world throughout the month. If you’d like to contribute, kindly email your articles to sukanya@feminisminindia.com
I can’t remember the last time I was not scolded by my mother for sitting too long with my phone or laptop, ignoring her shouts and my household chores. Ironically, I have now rather exponentially increased my time and engagement with digital screens, thanks to the repeated lockdowns, minimal outings and work-from-home scenario.
Before the onslaught of Covid-19, I was a part of the generation that got overwhelmed with the mass accessibility to android and windows technology in mobile phones and computers as teenagers, and then frequently got disciplined by parents for spending too much time with the phone.
My days as a recalcitrant teenager with a lengthy record of indulging in unproductive scrolling and chatting on social media, consuming numerous pirated movies and drama series and my mother’s warnings of “Go live inside the screen! Don’t ever come out!” are long gone.
Nowadays, her hand gestures and hushed words asking me when I will be free for lunch or when my all day long online classes will end are common in our home. My habit of checking text messages, scrolling through social media during study hours and anxiously stashing it under textbooks and copies to prevent my parents from finding out have been replaced by new habits of searching for my phone amongst papers littered across the bed, rolling shoulders after hunching all day in front of the laptop and rubbing my eyes and sighing with relief after getting rid of the PDFs of the books on the electronic screen at night.
I have also witnessed my acquaintances participate in formal virtual meetings of professional nature in a formal shirt, tie, suit jacket and a cotton shorts, since the camera range only covers up to the bust. Clothing and appearance have further shifted below in priority even in formal, corporate environments. Strong internet connection, ability of virtual persuasion, communication without human connection, and maximisation of online resource utilisation are now considered more valuable priorities
The bed, instead of looking inviting and a refuge for rest and rejuvenation at the end of the day, has been my standard space for spreading out stationeries and electronic equipment. Pillows have become my go to support for leaning backwards throughout the day.
The lockdowns, virtual meetings and conference calls have altered our linguistic, dietary and sartorial practices. During the last one and half years the phrases I have most frequently used and listened to have been, “Am I audible?”, “Can you see the screen?”, “Please reconnect, you are not audible”, “Switch your camera off, it might improve the sound” and so on.
The mandatory hugging and checking on one another while meeting friends has been replaced by a wide smile and waving hand gesture in virtual conferences. Instead of eating at the dining table with my mother and making small talk, I more often than not have frequent snacks while sitting on the bed, staring at the screen of the laptop.
My mother, who used to scold me earlier for eating food on the bed, not having timely meals and engaging in other tasks while eating, now brings me dry snacks and helps me clean up the bed after I have dirtied it with littered pages, books, chargers and food bowls.
Also read: Learning Through Rectangles: Online Classes Have Taken Away Some Precious Moments From Us
While I had to dress up appropriately, brush my hair and check my appearance in the mirror before going out, now, the only scrutiny I do before logging into a virtual session is checking if my face is visible in the front camera and if my voice is audible over the microphone.
In fact, I have also witnessed my acquaintances participate in formal virtual meetings of professional nature in a formal shirt, tie, suit jacket and a cotton shorts, since the camera range only covers up to the bust. Clothing and appearance have further shifted below in priority even in formal, corporate environments. Strong internet connection, ability of virtual persuasion, communication without human connection, and maximisation of online resource utilisation are now considered more valuable priorities.
