The Lifestyler: Virtual Socialising

This week I thought it would be good to consider the social exile aspects of the current crisis. 

With the exception of Trev who is “Loving every minute of it” – that he does not have to socialise.  The rest of us especially the LifeStyler is feeling a bit locked in and missing the catch up with his mates.

When I worked from home for some years it was important to get out and about and have relationships outside the family unit. To survive I ensured there was some virtual socialising with my work colleagues but come the weekend I was busting to get out or have mates over.  Now we cannot leave the house for the foreseeable future.

So last Sunday we organised to catch up with friends for drinks via messenger. These friends only live a few Km’s away so at first it was weird but we soon adjusted and even better no one had to drive home.

Now I do wish I had consulted Trev’s article first on Video conferencing as I would have done things a bit better like use Skype.  However I did learn some stuff myself. These include:

• Camera quality makes a big difference.  (Modern phone cameras are better than 10 year old web cams)
• Have the camera above face level – I used a stool and my nasal hairs did not get in shot
• Screen share from your PC or phone to your big screen TV so it makes your guests life-size.  Probably means you no longer look at camera but it makes the whole experience better
• I did have an issue where the picture is great but the audio is crap.  I have yet to work out a way for the TV to carry the audio and the microphone quality is dependent on how far your phone is away. (let us know if you have any good ideas here)

Now chances are you do have some extra time on your hands so I encourage you all to stay in touch with family friends etc.  We still have the telephone and a quick call with those dear to you makes all the difference.

My wife’s family has for some time used a group chat in messenger to communicate. Lately that’s gone up a notch and the women are sharing what happened in their days.

Really my point here is to remember to ask people are they OK??

The LifeStyler is quite excited by the prospect of socialising virtually with long distance friends whom he has wanted to catch up with for some time. Go on make a time, grab a drink and connect. Cheers!