Living in a Bubble: From Actual to Virtual

Hmmm, what happens whenthe frame of reference shifts off its axis?

I remember the day quitedistinctly. It was a Friday in late March 2020. All of the staff in ourdepartment was called into a meeting in the boardroom. We were told that theoffice was staying open for now while senior management continued to monitor thepandemic situation. We were told to take our laptops home for the weekend just in case.

On Sunday, we allreceived a call from our manager advising that in 48 ours the situation hadchanged and we would be working from home until further notice. None of us imaginedthat fifteen months later we would still be doing so with the end date still upin the air.

Now the official wordhas come down from senior management. When the office reopens (date still to bedetermined), we will be shifting to a hybrid work at home / in the office model(details still to be determined). It is the newnormal we were all cautioned to expect.

So it can be asserted,grudgingly in my case, that the world changed forever that day or thereabouts. Whetherit actually needed to do so is now moot. We crossed a threshold to a new eraand there is no turning back.

In the years to come, anarmy of experts will study and analyze how human behaviour has changed as aresult. They will have annual forums to present their findings and debatewhether we are at the thin or thick edge of the wedge. My prediction: They willreserve judgement on that question as long as possible to squeeze out everylast dollar of the research money available.

My interest in theequation is more a big picture outlook. How will our perception of the worldchange? Will the world feel like a smaller place or a bigger place than before?

We are much moretechnologically interconnected than 15 months ago which might argue for thesmaller world perception. On the other hand, our face to face interactions havebeen reduced by a factor of as much as 50% which swings the pendulum the otherway. Do the two even out to leave us roughly where we started? It will not bethat simple

My hypothesis is thatthe terms smaller and bigger no longer apply because the frame of reference hasshifted. Our perception of the world has mutated (pun intended) from actual to virtual, from sensory to intellectual. Our brains will graduallybe reprogrammed to react and interpret by observationmore so than by sensation.

We have entered an eraof living continuously in the bubble. We can still see what is going in theworld around us. But we are increasingly insulated from the touch and feel ofit.

I cannot help but wonder:What happens if, or when, the bubble bursts and a correction kicks in tobalance the equation? Will everything old be new again or will yet anotherevolution of the new normalreconfigure our lives?

~ NowAvailable Online from Amazon, Chapters Indigo or Barnes & Noble: HuntingMuskie, Rites of Passage – Stories by Michael Robert Dyet

~ Michael Robert Dyet is alsothe author of Until the Deep Water Stills – An Internet-enhanced Novel whichwas a double winner in the Reader Views Literary Awards 2009. Visit Michael’swebsite at www.mdyetmetaphor.com .

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