UHCL stays connected remotely to others during COVID-19
With the rapid spread of COVID-19, people all over the world have been told to stay at home to curb the transmission of the disease, this includes the closure of non-essential businesses and stopping all non-essential travel.
Thus, this eliminates the gatherings of friends and families across the globe.
An article published by Helen Davidson in The Guardian states that around 20% of the world’s population has been placed under some form of lockdown as of March 24.
“Around one in five people around the globe are under lockdown, ordered to stay home as the world enters a critical week in responding to the accelerating coronavirus pandemic,” Davidson stated in the March 24 article.
In this stressful time, while people are kept physically apart, students, staff, and faculty at the University of Houston-Clear Lake (UHCL) are finding creative ways to stay virtually connected to friends and loved ones.
Zoom, a video communications app started in 2011, has risen in popularity recently. During the pandemic, it has been used for conducting church services, throwing birthday parties, and UHCL is using it to hold classes and various other student services.
Andrea Baldwin, lecturer in communication, is teaching her classes via pre-recorded videos, but she does use Zoom to chat with friends and offer office hours for her students.
“I use Zoom to connect with my friends and while I am teaching asynchronously, I offer Zoom hours, but if lots of people are on a Zoom call, it can feel chaotic, and if the Wi-Fi is slow, sometimes it grates my patience,” Baldwin said.
Although beneficial, Baldwin said the use of video conferencing to conduct important business is not ideal for her, especially since it is harder to pick up on social cues and body language through a computer screen.
“For me, nothing beats face-to-face connection,” Baldwin said. “I struggle to observe nonverbal cues via the screen, but it’s been helpful to not seem so alone.”
The lockdown has caused the cancellation of gatherings such as birthdays, graduations, and wedding plans, but people have come up with ideas to celebrate these special occasions virtually.
Angie Montelongo, director of Orientation and New Student Services, had her birthday April 19, and even though she was stuck indoors, she still intended to celebrate with her close friends.
“I had family and friends join from all parts of Texas, and we visited about how they all knew me, what they appreciated about me, and then they sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to me, which was really nice,” Montelongo said. “While it’s not the same, it was certainly a good way to celebrate a quarantine birthday and will definitely remain memorable for a lifetime.”
Streaming apps Discord and Twitch are primarily used for gaming but are a popular way to connect with others via the internet.
Ethan Duke, graphic design major and brand director for the Campus Activity Board (CAB), uses Discord to chat with friends and has used both Twitch and YouTube to live stream for CAB, to continue doing his job while creating a sense of connection.
“I have connected with other people through the use of Discord, where my friends and I stream games with each other,” Duke said. “I’ve also done live streams for CAB over Twitch and YouTube in an attempt to connect people.”
Since more people are staying home, new social apps have entered the market. New popular game apps such as the Frankly-Party Game, puts users in a video chat room with their friends and gives them exciting and sometimes embarrassing questions to answer. There is also House Party, an app similar to Frankly that puts users and their friends in a video chatroom and lets them play games with each other.
There are numerous ways to stay socially connected to other people while following social distance protocols.
Netflix Party, a Chrome extension launched March 19, allows people in different residences to watch a Netflix movie or TV show simultaneously and chat. JQBX (Jukebox) is a free music-based app that links to a Spotify account and allows users to join a music party with anyone anywhere in the world or create a room and be a virtual DJ for your friends.
To Montelongo, staying connected through virtual means is necessary so that she can see her loved ones visually again.
“It’s not the same as being with people in person, but it is a good way to stay connected so that we can all stay safe and be together again face-to-face,” Montelongo said.
