Or How Technology Will Destroy/Save Us All
Five and a half years ago, I met my husband in a bar in Rockridge, a swanky neighborhood of north Oakland, California. I’d been living in the San Francisco Bay Area for 10 years with no intention of ever living anywhere else. I probably shouldn’t have agreed to go on a date with a European with that determination in mind, but I had always preferred foreign guys, so I couldn’t help myself.
I quickly learned he had an intoxicatingly adventurous spirit that made the introvert in me want to leave her carefully conceived shell for parts unknown. I had been an avid traveler before I moved to the Golden State, and I soon returned to those tendencies when, after we were married, we took up the challenge to move to North Carolina for a couple of years.
Technology did it.
Let me explain here that we met via an online dating service. He was a co-founder of an email app startup, and I was a freelance copyeditor and graphic designer (and still am). Technology brought us together and technology kept us together with his job opportunity back east and my ability to work from anywhere with a wi-fi connection.
Technology also made our relationship possible because he wouldn’t have come to Silicon Valley if not for the tech boom there. And if not for technology, we wouldn’t have come back to the Bay Area a year and a half ago so that he could work with yet another tech company and I could continue my remote work.
Alas, it’s technology that’s driving us away from the west again — this time high tech job salaries have resulted in a housing crisis here that makes rent and property beyond our reach. We can’t afford one house in California, but we can afford two in Florida. So we’re headed to the Sunshine State before this month is out.
Now a new challenge has reared its ugly diseased head.
On the positive side for a second, because of technology, we know how to protect ourselves from Covid-19. And because of technology, I will get the chance to say a goodbye, albeit not quite a proper one, to my friends via Skype, Hangout, Zoom, Messenger, Instagram, texting, and the list goes on and on … and on.
On the more ominous side, though, is the inevitable increase in “social distancing,” even among close friends and family. An obsession with the singular “they” seemed to still be ruling the debate halls just a month or two ago, but this new ominous buzz phrase is now saturating the virtual conversation.
Keep six feet away or you risk getting sick.
How to win friends and influence pandemics?
I had already been overcoming the symptoms of winter cabin fever and trying to figure out how to make new friends in my new subtropical community only to learn isolation is now mandatory if I want to stay healthy and protect others at the same time. So perhaps I’ll become more active in Facebook groups and Nextdoor as a way to make new acquaintances who will hopefully one day be able to meet in person.
However, the concern some people, including my husband and I, are expressing is an uptick in people not wanting to connect in real life. And as businesses start to learn how to work with employees remotely, more jobs will become home-based.
Companies will realize they can save money in overhead costs, and new startups will figure out how to make the virtual space more manageable for those missing the old ways of keeping tabs on their workers.
Alphas to the rescue.
But next generations always figure out how to improve on an older model … or even revive vintage traditions. Once we all get used to living, working, and playing in our secure little caves, I predict that Generation Alpha will discover the joy of a storefront bookstore, a local watering hole with authentic dive-bar features, and the ability to select products right off the shelf!
Of course, some new social expectations for keeping spaces sanitary and germ-free will be second nature by then.
For the moment, though, we’re at a new crossroads for technology, and all routes are clear, open, and conspicuously free of traffic jams. I’m ready to see where they take me, but in the meantime, I’ll wash my hands and keep my distance. I’m sure you understand.
Update: Check out the rest of this series with Moving to Florida in the Midst of a Pandemic and Living in Florida in the Midst of a Pandemic.
