During these unprecedented times, we have been jumping a lot of hurdles to try to keep ourselves protected from the spread of COVID-19. Even though the current circumstances require us to social distance, one thing that has been keeping us together is technology.
Technology has not only been helping us continue our school work online, but it has been helping our society stay connected and keep some of us from going insane.
We have also had celebrities spreading some laughter and good news like John Krasinski, who has a YouTube show that reminds people about the good things that are going on because we are mainly focusing on the coronavirus.
Technology has also been allowing us to communicate with each other and stay up to date with what is going on in the world right now.
Not only has technology been keeping us connected, but it has also kept the school year going for students and educators. Schools are using different websites to give out assignments and using software like Zoom to video chat with students.
Bluffton University had a similar situation where they had to send students home, but that was during the 1918-19 Influenza pandemic in which they did not have smartphones, computers or any technology that allowed them to continue school.
One of the companies helping us continue our school work online is Zoom, a software that allows people to conduct video conferences. Zoom has had a big growth in the past few months.
Eric Yuan, the founder of Zoom, wrote in a blog on the Zoom website, that Zoom has grown from 10 million daily users in December of 2019 to more than 200 million daily users as of March of 2020.
Even though I feel comfortable with technology, I don’t like to use it to communicate with people because the people I need to talk to are usually around me, so when I have to video chat with teachers, I am uncomfortable because it is awkward.
I have been using social media to only message friends and family because I am not a FaceTime type of person, so when I need to get in contact with someone I will message them on Snapchat or on other popular social media apps.
Now that I have to stay in the house, I am on my phone more than usual and actually posting on social media. I posted a video, I made during my senior year of high school of students and teachers dancing on Twitter to try to show them something that is full of dancing and joy. I had some of my former teachers tell me how that video made their day.
That made me think about how I never use technology for good. I don’t post bad or inappropriate things on social media, but I don’t post things that can potentially help someone get through the tough times, like John Kranskni or singers that performing at-home concerts. I think we need to post more uplifting and funny things on social media that can make someone’s day. We are all going through this tough time and all we have is technology to communicate with our family and friends, so let’s use it for good.
Day’Vion Smith photo by Nicole Centofanti
Day’Vion Smith is a freshman convergent media major and convergent journalist from Toledo, Ohio.
