Submitted by Mahi Shah from The Avery Coonley School in Downers Grove.
BAM! A situation that I was incredibly small and wasn't going to have a large impact has blossomed into something to the point where I've started living my life on a screen. Since quarantine started I never realized the impact it would have on me both socially and academically. When I opened up zoom links for the first time, a rush of excitement filled me. I thought to myself, this was going to be a new adventure, despite what had been taken away from me. Week 1 of living my life online hit me hard. I had a wave of emotions going through my head because this was something I had never experienced before. It was a change. Change can affect anyone's life regardless if it's positive or negative. Face-timing friends in the school day as opposed to seeing them in person, and working on homework instead of having a live class were just a few things that seemed unimaginable at the time. I know many of you are/were facing the same emotions as I was at the start: a feeling of uncertainty. I missed having social interactions with people, and all the other chaos I had going on. I missed getting to see the smiling faces everyday when I walked into my school building, yet slowly, as this lifestyle has progressed it has become the new normal for me.
Now, as I wake up each morning, being on my computer and opening up online assignments has become natural instinct. I still miss everything, and would do anything for a normal 8th grade year, but I realized that I would be even more lost if I didn't have technology with me. Life on a screen has changed so much from simply looking at social media and reading news articles. It has become a go-to/essential for living our lives each day. Why is that? Is it because we ourselves are afraid to try something new that could disrupt our lives more than they have been? Or is it because we just want that feeling of familiarity we had when school was still on. I sit here glued to my computer for a large chunk of each day trying to accomplish tasks assigned to me regardless of the challenges: Having to write with my finger on online quizzes and tests , having our WiFi crash in the middle of a class, and talking over people in discussions over zoom are just a few.
To say this has been a rollercoaster would be an understatement. I never really thought that my daily life would thrown onto a screen overnight. Will this new style of living turn into how we live our lives permanently? All I can say for now is that we better get used to our life on a screen.
Hope you all are staying safe and strong in these difficult times!
Mahi :)