Sunday, 10 May 2020

LIFE IN LOCK DOWN - VIDEO CHATS

Is anyone else getting really obsessed with all these video chats that every one seems to want to do? Personally if I have friends that I usually only talk to once every 3 months or so; I don't want to talk to them now. I want to stick to my normal routine of only talking to them every 3 months or so. After all if I only talk to them every 3 months or so in normal times, then they're not the closest of my friends, so I don't feel the need to speak to them any more now that we're in lock down.

The minute lock down was announced it was like the world had gone mad! All of a sudden everyone seemed to want to do video calls. There was Zoom and House Party (though that one seems to have died a death now) and Facetime & Whatsapp and Skype, etc, etc, etc.

Before we'd even done a week in lock down my two sisters sent me a message saying shall we do a 'Facetime' chat?!! We did. But why? We can go at least a couple of months without speaking to each other. And then a group of friends that I probably go out for a meal with about once a month (& we go on holidays together too) decided that we should have a 'WhatsApp video call every week. So every Sunday at noon we have a little chat together. It's nice. But is it necessary? We usually see each other once a month. Why do we feel the need to connect once a week now that we're in lock down.

It's like 'lock down' has turned everyone into a 'needy person' who has to connect to others via a video link so that they can actually see a real life person.

I live alone and I'm finding this 'lock down' thing really, really, hard but I don't feel the need to connect to my friends via a video link.  I'd much rather just talk to them one to one on the phone.  I find chatting on a video link with three or four people really difficult.  It's like we're all just staring at each other all the time.  And everyone talks over each other.  In fact with one group of friends we've actually now got a rule; that if one of us wants to talk one has to put ones hand up.

Personally I just want to see my friends in real life. However if they want to connect to me via a video type call then yes I will, because I love my friends and I want to keep them happy.

I'm 61 years old. I'm not a kid who has grown up with social media and who conducts the whole of my life online. Before lock down I read an article that said that the teenage pregnancy rate was the lowest it had been in the UK for years. And that was because the teens today were being romanced on line and weren't actually meeting up to have sex????

Anyway I digress.............................

Video chats....................... Much as I want to keep in touch with my friends. And much as I HATE being home alone during this lock down thing.................... I personally do not want to talk to friends via a video chat thingy.

For a start....................... I'm not one of these super duper people who has done all the jobs on their 'to do' list and gets up every morning at dawn to do the latest online workout from their gym. Oh and that's another thing while I'm having a bit of a RANT about video calls......................

....................During week one I logged into the live video thingy that my fitness club had set up and all of a sudden all these people on my FB page had joined in because apparently I was hosting a fitness party?? I have absolutely no idea how that happened. There I was lying on the rug in my living room in my Primark leggings & Tshirt and apparently the whole world was watching.

Loads and loads of comments kept popping up but I didn't know why. After about two mins I just closed down my laptop. And I've been far too scared to do any other live fitness class again because I really haven't got a clue what I'm doing.

.............And the other thing..................... while having all these video chats with friends................... should one make an effort and get all dressed up for the occasion?

Personally I don't get dressed up for the occasion. I haven't got dressed up for more than 6 weeks. If I didn't have a dog to take out a couple of times a day, I probably wouldn't even get dressed. Having said that, I always wear lipstick on the dog walk.

BUT as for video chats............................. I may not like them and I may not want to do them, but actually, I LOVE my friends so I'm more than happy to do whatever they want. It's not like I've got anything else to do is it?

See you all tomorrow.
Toodles xxxx

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