I spoke to an old therapist friend today, and finally understood why everyone’s so exhausted after the video calls. It’s the plausible deniability of each other’s absence. Our minds tricked into the idea of being together when our bodies feel we’re not. Dissonance is exhausting.
— Gianpiero Petriglieri (@gpetriglieri) April 3, 2020
It’s easier being in each other’s presence, or in each other’s absence, than in the constant presence of each other’s absence.
— Gianpiero Petriglieri (@gpetriglieri) April 3, 2020
Our bodies process so much context, so much information, in encounters, that meeting on video is being a weird kind of blindfolded. We sense too little and can’t imagine enough. That single deprivation requires a lot of conscious effort.
— Gianpiero Petriglieri (@gpetriglieri) April 4, 2020
I am finding Zoom easier if I don’t make eye contact. Then I can mimick a distant presence, which feels more real. If I want intimacy, and we’re apart, I’ll phone. And If I want to say thinking of you, I’ll write.
— Gianpiero Petriglieri (@gpetriglieri) April 4, 2020
To me dissonance is noise, just not the right kind of noise. It's loud and unsettling. It's odd in a way that I suspect most people find it almost deafening. What's laughable to me is wishing we were allowed to be in somebody's presence only because it's not allowed, right now. Once this bleep in time is all over, I'll be interested in knowing whether social interaction increases, resumes as it was (sort of), or it just gets kicked to the curb, this time, by choice.
The social interactions were what I missed immediately. My wife’s two sisters and her mother live our town. We saw them reguarly for Sunday dinners. During "normal times" I worked from home two days a week and every week had lunch with a friend. I was active in photography groups.
Miss it yes. Lose it no. The world’s gonna need people just like you when this is over. Social butterflies ? expand everyone’s consciousness. Never were we ever meant to be without each other. Stay Safe. Stay healthy!