LACKIE: Pandemic life is one for the history books

Content of the article

Lately, it seems like everyone is exhausted.

Content of the article

The weather can be beautiful and life may seem easier than it has been for some time, but we are also approaching 18 months of “unprecedented times” in a global pandemic.

Eighteen months in which huge portions of our lives have been spent virtually. Eighteen months of numbers of cases and vaccination thresholds, masking, lockdown and plans to reopen – a reality almost entirely unfathomable two years ago.

And that’s actually the best case scenario reserved for those of us who haven’t also lost loved ones or businesses or faced some tragedy along the way.

Now that we are heading into fall, it’s hard to escape the sad reality that we are not out of the woods yet, and even the thought of this pandemic life we ​​are living extending into an indefinable future makes us all feel down.

Content of the article

At least that’s what I thought to myself as I watched complete strangers scream and rampage in a parking spot at Costco, as I’ve witnessed this week.

Or when I called an agent about their ad that I was going to offer only to empty my call and send a text saying, “I’m busy, text only”.

Or watching a woman tear up adorable restaurant staff because her table was “too sunny.”

It is as if people have forgotten how to treat each other.

We’ve spent so much time doing business virtually, placing grocery orders online, and ordering deliveries through apps that it seems like the mere act of another human on the other end of these interactions could have been obscured.

I work in a relationship business. As much as the pandemic has caused real estate to adapt and innovate, which has been pretty amazing to see, the basic reality is that successful transactions are negotiated through a connection, and this skill is often what makes a good agent. formidable.

Content of the article

But now that it’s quite possible to complete an entire transaction without ever actually interacting with IRL, it can be a bit of a hassle. Transactional, if you will.

And I imagine that’s the case in all kinds of industries. Managed and motivated staff via Zoom. Colleagues collaborating on high stakes projects entirely via Skype. Relate to each other on the basis of deliverables and results.

On the one hand, it’s quite breathtaking to see what technology has enabled; on the other hand, it’s a bit horrifying when you consider what he now excludes so easily.

This aspect of Internet culture is not new. People on Twitter are more than comfortable hurling insults at someone’s hilt that they would never have dreamed of saying in that same person’s face.

Content of the article

I experienced this a few weeks ago when I dared to express my personal belief – in an opinion column, nothing less – that the Yonge Street bike lane rider, although he did act of a valid idea, was disappointing in its implementation.

I quickly discovered that when “Twitter Cycle” kicks in and comes for you, you know it. The stacking was something, the insults swift and furious. Presumably, the random internet trolls don’t really want me to kill myself or hurt my kids, but they certainly had no problem calling it from inside an app. Due to a different point of view on the cycle paths. Cycle paths!

I imagine hurling insults and wishing harm on a complete stranger only happens if you don’t believe him or her to be a human person with real human feelings. This is kind of the point of what I’m getting at.

We are all tired. We are all frustrated. This period of our life is literally one for the history books.

It’s time to give yourself and give yourself a little grace.

@brynnlackie