An Inside Voice: Our screens, ourselves

So, it’s two weeks into the semester, and we’re just starting to get that feeling of familiarity, of “This is how things work, and I think I understand things.” We probably have a bit of a pattern established of how and when to complete our weekly readings, of how much or how little we can get away with while still understanding and absorbing the material at an enjoyable rate, remaining engaged but not driven insane by over-the-top expectations.

I’ve found that online studying is different than in-class studying for many reasons, one being that many students, myself included, find that getting to know people and building relationships is difficult. Brushing aside the fact that COVID-19 already has everyone in a state of anxiety and restlessness, we must remember that it’s something handed to us mere mortals to deal with very fast, and I think we—students and instructors alike—have done a bang-up job of adapting to such circumstances.

The classroom was something that professors and students counted on for relationship-building; it was where body language was read, conversations started. The sound of voices would challenge our creativity and intellect, and to have that whisked away so suddenly—because of a pandemic, no less—was surreal and completely tragic. Yet we have adapted, and as difficult as it may be to build relationships with people without actually knowing them in person, it’s interesting to literally be forced to know people on an entirely new level, counting on one’s imagination to fill in the blanks when the live person in the classroom with you no longer exists. I’ve found out that being in the online classroom doesn’t have to mean we lose our personalities or senses of humour; we just might have to work a little harder at expressing it. We don’t have the luxury of our faces to express our feelings; hence, we might have to post a joke or a meme in the chat area to show our individuality.

I’ve also discovered that we don’t have to be in the same room to be supportive. In my anthropology class the other night, we had a class discussion about student poverty; the amount of feeling and tenderness displayed was incredible.

I have to say, even though I still prefer the classroom echo to the online digital hum, the compassion of my fellow students was evident that day in a way that I might have missed had it not been written in words across the screen right in front in me.