In relation to technology...

 Turkle argues that we have come to expect more from technology than from each other and our reliance upon technology has created loneliness and isolation when we were seeking to create community and connection.  There is no doubt that advancement in technology has increased our reliance on innovation and reduced our dependence on face-to-face social interaction.  During the pandemic, technology was the only way we were able to engage with much of our otherwise in-person lives.  School, work, and socialization all happened through our screens.  If it weren’t for technology, the pandemic experience would have been very different.  

For me, this increased dependence on technology felt much like Turkle described in her article The Pandemic Made Us Strangers to Ourselves in Time magazine.  It felt like an ongoing state of transition.  Every day presented new challenges in trying to figure out how to use technology to accomplish the same tasks we were custom to doing through other means.  This experience created new rituals, expectations, and practices.  Now, in the post-pandemic world, we are in a position to figure out how to reimagine life and move forward in a space where everything is different but also the same.  

The pandemic made me feel more comfortable and adept with technology.  At the same time, it created a dependence on technology that has outlived online schooling and stay-at-home orders.  I see myself working to balance between how it was before to how it had to be during the pandemic.