To Connect or Not Connect: Living in a Connection Burn-Out World
Before late 2019 we lived in a world in which we were increasingly connected. So connected that the word “connect” started to take on new meaning. The word and the act itself felt shallow and superficial. Connecting no longer meant to join or unite. It was used more often to mean establishing contact. The cheapening of this word resulted in a world where one could virtually touch at a moment’s notice that had little to no meaning.
In a post-COVID world we are more connected than we ever have been, but in ways that we might not have ever experienced before. As the effects of the pandemic unfolded in early 2020 many people were scrambling to find ways to connect. The threat of months-long isolation encouraged new ways to build and maintain new and existing relationships. We were clutching the nearest connections we could get to in fear of losing it all.
Weeks of endless video chatting and teleconferencing with colleagues, friends, and loved ones led to connection burn-out. We are beginning to shun the very technology and devices that we relied on just a few weeks. We’re using less video and reducing frivolous meetings and calls more often.
As we start to settle in for the long haul the need for those deep, meaningful connections are starting to resurface. These are the connections where we make time and space for them, not the type that is at convenience. The connections that energize us, regardless of intro- or extroversion, are the ones that get us closer to what connect really means.
Sara Davidson
