Due to COVID-19, time spent online now plays a role in our lives like never before. Not only has time spent online increased, but the activities done online have diversified. This sudden change in online time creates an interesting cultural and attitude shift from how society used to perceive the value of screen time. Clearly, being online has a different meaning in today’s society that it did even a year ago.
When COVID-19 hit, the changes that came with it were intense and swift. Suddenly everything from restaurants to school were closed. Even outdoor summer activities were cancelled. Just how nothing was normal anymore, socialization wasn’t either. Face to face communication was no longer a reliable form of socialization. Actually, we couldn’t rely on anything outside the house to keep us entertained. What were we supposed to do?
Zoom. Zooms soon become a staple in our lives. Zoom can be used to chat, play games, or even watch movies. In a time where there was no way to go out to do these activities, Zoom became everyone’s best friend. Zoom isn’t just used for socialization in COVID times. It also becomes a way to go to school and learn, as well as a way to safely work from home, while still being able to speak with coworkers. It became the way for a therapist to connect to her patient, or for a personal trainer to reach their client. In just under a year, our whole world shifted from in person to virtual. For a lot of people, there is no other alternative. There is quite literally no in person or face to face socialization that could be done. So is our time still being wasted if we spend it online?
No, it isn’t. But before truly considering this question, it is important to think about the ideals that surrounded online time pre COVID, specifically the shaming that went along with time online and the pride that came with time spent offline.
For almost as long as the internet has been around, people have felt that time spent online is wasteful. Many parents for example, would much rather see their children play outside with friends rather than spend time playing video games. As those children get older, their parents would much rather them go to a football game with a group of friends instead of updating their instagram feeds. As one of those now grown children, this has created feelings of disappointment in myself when I spend lots of time online. This self judgement is something that I have seen many of my friends struggle with too, even occasionally having periods of detox where they delete an app, only to re-download it a few days later.
To show how innate this bias against time spent online is, think about the following example; a teacher asks her students about what they did over the weekend. One girl says that she went to a street carnival with all her friends and spent hours walking along the booths of games, food, and prizes. The teacher and class react enthusiastically, asking questions about her favorite ride, and overall thinking it was a worthy way for this student to spend her time. Another student then shares about how he spent nearly all of his time on his computer, playing video games. The reactions of others are not nearly as positive, as his peers and teacher write off this use of time as not of any substance. The girl who shared about the fair might even think herself better for spending hours outside with her friends, not a device in sight. What the class doesn’t know is that he did do something worthwhile. He was speaking and socializing with his online friends. Perhaps the male student doesn’t have lots of friends at school, so online is his opportunity to socialize with others. There is no difference in how much enjoyment or
excitement was gotten from either the male or female student’s experiences, there is only a difference in how that time and activity is treated.
Considering this example and the shame that was projected onto the male student, but the praise that the female student received, I recognize a real issue in how we perceive online time as a society. Inherently, there is nothing about putting your phone away for a few hours and doing something face to face that automatically makes you a better or enlightened person. I think we can all agree with this. Then why is there such feelings of superiority or pride that come from not using our devices? There really shouldn’t be. I would say it’s unfair to shame people for online use, as, like it is for the male student, it might be their only opportunity to spend time with others. Now, we are all in the same boat as the male student because of COVID-19.
So back to my original question; in our COVID age, is our time online still a waste? Again, no. People are now no longer shamed for using their computers all day. Student’s spend up to 7 hours a day with their teachers, and adults might spend even more due to work. Society no longer views this computer time as wasteful, but instead necessary to keep the gears moving in this weird time. Many parents who once before scolded their children for spending all their time on the computer are allowing, and maybe even encouraging online socialization. Now more than ever, we need to be online to survive, and for once, this is culturally acceptable. The lines between online and real life no longer exist, showing this very rapid shift in how we view online time.
As time goes on and we are hopefully soon able to leave COVID in our past, it will be interesting to see how online time plays a role in our lives after COVID. Will people be given the option to work from home, calling into work on zooms? Will groups of friends still all get together and watch a movie on zoom? How will we perceive this use of time? Who knows how
society will value time spent online, as if COVID has proven anything, it’s that things can change in the blink of an eye.
-Sophie Eisenthal, ’24