Fresno man, 89, finds Zoom to be key link to grandkids, church, and world beyond COVID
Like a soothing breeze from the azure Pacific wafting over our heat-consumed Valley, the arrival of Zoom technology has been a magnificent addition, some would say savior, attacking the ennui and isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown.
It has allowed for schools and universities to continue, for families to visit, for worship, for active employment, for friends to chat, and much more.
I think of the British legend that tells that King Arthur will ride to the rescue if the United Kingdom is really threatened. Is Zoom our King Arthur?
Zoom, of course, is the online program that allows conferees to see and talk to each other anywhere in the world. It’s geographic reach is amazing. I talk weekly to a grandson in South Korea and a friend in Germany. I connect often with all of my children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, and thrill to watch them progress in life.
My weekly church service is on Zoom. On “gallery view” I can also visit with many of my fellow members, all displayed on my computer screen.
For many working members of my family, it means a miraculous economic survival. Attorney members are able to work via Zoom as well as investment advisers, school teachers, and other business people.
With Zoom, there are now new parameters surfacing. I lead many Zoom sessions, which are scheduled for one hour. At the end of the hour, participants willingly accept the termination of the session. There is none of that lingering departure conversation so prevalent in face to face connections.
Being heard is a problem in large group sessions and silence is often ended by multiply conversations overlapping each other. The forceful usually prevail. Dress is interesting as well as haircuts. There is often conversation about one’s hair with the access to barber and beauty salons have been limited. Since only the top half of one appears, one attorney told me he “appears” in court with coat and tie but shorts or pajama bottoms and slippers. I would end up in jail if I did that in my trial days!
Eating and drinking on screen are normal. I have water handy and many folks snack. Also, some with movable devices show pets, home improvement, snow, and children at play.
I have viewed in my 89 years so many new and wonderful things only to see their innovative thrill diminish. A harbinger of this evolution is the arrival of “Zoom fatigue” claimed by many users.
Radio was a thrilling innovation, as I was able to listen to President Franklin Roosevelt lead us through a Depression and a world war. Radio also make us laugh during those difficult times by listening to Fred Allen, Fibber McGee and Molly, and Jack Benny, or thrilling to the Lone Ranger, the Green Hornet, and Jack Armstrong.
When our telephone changed in 1939 from a party line shared by several subscribers who heard each other’s conversations to a private line, long conversations sprang up, which nourished me.
Television was an exciting innovation. I first viewed it in 1951. It allowed for news and movies and created stars like Walter Cronkite and Ed Sullivan as well as showing the first steps on the moon.
Many now are deeply engaged in social media, but perhaps it too is fading.
Sadly, Zoom will soon join those superb innovations diminishing into just another useful communication tool. Let us therefore now pause to thank the technology people at Zoom who have made this possible. Work for many has been made viable. Quarantine and isolation are less oppressive. Before Zoom becomes just a regular part of our lives, let’s step back and look with wonderment at the ability to see and talk to people worldwide. It is a miracle arriving just in time to significantly ease the impact of the virulent virus. Is it our King Arthur?