Now that most of us who can switch to online work have done so, some of the implications of this new mostly-digital life are becoming clearer. Two that I’m noticing are feeling particularly insidious, and I’d love to hear how you’re tackling them:
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- The extinction of spontaneous conversations. Whether it’s touching base over your cubicle wall or bumping into people on the sidewalk or catching up with a colleague in a hallway after a meeting, our opportunities for unscheduled chats have dwindled. Who would have thought we’d miss small talk! There are so many social touchpoints that don’t warrant an appointment but add to the richness of our days. This is not only a social loss, but also a hit to our “reconnaissance capacity” at work because we have less of a sense of what’s happening on the street.
- Medium-priority social gatherings in peril. As the weather gets colder and daylight hours shorter, our evening gatherings outdoors feel increasingly precious and precarious. In contexts where distanced socializing is difficult, I hear people saying, “We could meet on Zoom, but do you mind if we don’t?” Even though we have figured out how to translate our social or volunteer commitments to digital ones, spending our work days online means that we don’t necessarily want to do the same in our evenings. Extending our screen time does not feel like a win, and our formal and informal community building can suffer as a result.
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