Part of being an editor of anything having to do with language is that many of us fall into an annoying habit of continually examining words and phrases. As a magazine editor I not only evaluate copy for print and digital properties, I find that evaluating grammar usage is part of the proverbial work I take home. I’m fascinated with word games, re-read fascinating sentences that paint vivid pictures and deconstruct terms that are inaccurately constructed. This is the downside of social distancing — at least as a term implies, for example. Since the first mention of this concept I believed the term was an incorrect description of a necessary endeavor.
Pandemic Planet
Since late 2019, COVID-19 has rummaged around our planet like an unwelcome intruder. An effective approach in the effort to stop the spread of this virus is to stay physically away from others. Most people under national and State orders to stay at home have complied. After all, we all want to do our part to stop the spread of an unbridled killer. But staying home has not prevented most Americans from reaching out electronically to maintain socializing with friends, family and coworkers. This has been the saving grace of this peculiar time we’re all spending isolated indoors. Now we can easily connect to others through services like Zoom, Google Hangouts and FaceTime. Even archaic phone conversations have made a resounding comeback since we want to catch up with those we love.
Reach Out and Touch Someone
It’s important to reach out to connect socially, even while maintaining physical distancing. To distance ourselves socially from others would cause emotional trauma on top of the already challenging medical issues we’re facing. But the use of the term “social distancing” leads some to believe that we are to avoid contact of any kind, which may have had to happen if this pandemic would have occurred even 10 years ago. We’re living in the 21st century and today’s technology affords us the opportunity to, as the old phone ads sang, reach out and touch someone.
Social Connection
There are a multitude of ways we can connect with others. Here are some:
- Send dinner to a friend who’s celebrating a significant occasion. With all the delivery apps available today, this is even easier than doing the shopping ourselves!
- Hold a weekday “Happy Hour” with friends through a service like Zoom. Wine required here, so you can all toast to healthier days to come.
- If you’re single, those in the “dating know” say it’s a good time to connect with other singles. Get an account rolling and meet other likeminded-peeps.
- Armed with the latest styles in masks and gloves, connect with friends and neighbors on someone’s front lawn. Most States will require you to keep your masked celebration to under 10 humans and you’ll need to keep six feet away from each other. But hey, that’s better than nothing!
- Meet with friends online and do a digital yoga class together.
- If you’d rather limit your visits, try an app like Marco Polo which allows users to leave video messages to each other … a visually enhanced form of texting.
The downside of social distancing is that the term has caused some to believe they are to be socially detached, while they are simply being asked to stay physically apart. Now more than ever, we need to reach out to others in whatever separate way we can. Just because we can’t be physically close to people doesn’t mean we must be socially distant from each other.