Technology has played an increasingly important role in everyone’s life over the last month or so. With the outbreak of COVID-19 and the need for social distancing, we have all had to retreat to our homes and find something to do which does not involve going out for coffee / lunch / beer. As someone who loves technology and what it enables, I’ve been fascinated to see how, when push comes to shove, we evolve our use of technology to stay in touch more so than ever before.
This post is not the ultimate guide in how to use technology to keep better connected, but more of my observations over the last few weeks. This is set to grow and expand as we go deeper down the rabbit hole with lock down – and I’m intrigued to see how this changes the way we live our lives post-pandemic.
Telephone
Before I get onto looking at some of the ways I’ve seen modern tech used, I felt it worth a shout out to the humble telephone. Never before, has staying in touch be so important and for many, using gadgets is not an option – either because of lack of skills, equipment or eye sight. For me, being able to stay in touch with loved ones through a simple phone call has been increasingly important. And, I’m finding that my frequency of picking up the phone has increased, as I now have more time to spend and chat.
Twitter Listen Along
Last night (Easter Sunday) I listened along to Different Class by Pulp and then Power Corruption and Lies by New Order. By following along with the twitter hashtag #TimsListeningParty so did many hundreds / thousands others. So much so, Pulp were trending between 8pm and 9pm GMT.
It’s not something I’d likely participate in other times, but with Spotify, a nice stereo and a few beers I found the whole experience brilliant. I particularly enjoyed reading out Tweets with my wife in pretentious bloke voices – like Adam Buxton. I’m sure given the massive success the listen alongs will go from strength to strength and get lots of folk listening to cool albums at the same time.
Instagram Live
I’ve only watched two Instagram Live ‘events’ both were ‘hosted’ by Daisy May Cooper and both were brilliant. More and more of your favourite musicians, actors, comedians are taking to live streaming as attention is their oxygen. If you are doing so already, check out Daisy May Cooper on insta / watch This Country on iPlayer – you are in for a treat.
Music Tech Content
One other trend which fascinates me is the growth in using music tech and sharing content on the subject. Why I find this really interesting is the need for time when you are creating music / jamming / using complex hardware and software. Time is often something we find ourselves short of, so the explosion of this type of content shows us how many are putting their free time to productive purposes.
Spotify Playlists
OK, this one doesn’t really bring us together like the others, but I felt a special mention for Spotify playlists are in order as they do bring you closer to the curator.
My wife and I listened to Dolly Alderton’s Pandemic at the Disco:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3dW4ddgwOxj4q7XVvbOa7w
Video Calls
Lastly, but not leastly I’ve been forced to work from home for the last four weeks. This is not normally a problem for me as it’s something I’ve been doing off and on for over a decade now. What’s changed though is the increased use of webcams to improve the quality of how we staying in touch.
We use Microsoft Teams / Skype and Cisco Webex and I personally hope the use of the webcam for being able to see someone in a place will remain a thing – especially as we do not yet know the long lasting effect the pandemic is going to have on the way we work.
Where I live, the local pub has taken to running a pub quiz over Zoom and even celebrated Easter, along with Morris Men and all over a video call – strange, but true.
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