The pandemic has been a shock to many systems, institutions, and habits; some good and some bad. I think one good one is reducing the friction in social participation.
[For example, take a home owners association (HOA). After I moved to Reston I was automatically a member of the Pinecrest HOA. As such for some years I participated in the annual meetings, but my enthusiasm waned as my guilt about letting others shoulder the responsibilities for the cluster increased. So I don't think I've been in an annual meeting this century, much less the monthly board meetings.
But with the advent of covid the board meetings converted to Zoom. That by itself wasn't sufficient to get me to log in, but a renovation of a sidewalk by our house raised an issue sufficient to get me over the hurdle, to learn Zoom well enough to [what's the term for attending a Zoom meeting?]. I noted this week there were 11 attending, 4 board members and 6 residents, plus the maintenance rep.
I don't know that I will continue my attendance, but I think Zoom and the stimulus of the pandemic likely has permanently increased the interest and attendance at the meetings. It makes sense: you no longer have to venture out of the house and join strangers, make small talk, etc. Instead you just fire up the laptop or cellphone while sitting in your easy chair, and you have easy control over the degree to which you participate. It's great for introverts, who must be a sizeable part of the population.
No comments:
Post a Comment