Week Seven Blog – Discuss an experience in the DCERP program that has stood out to you that
didn’t occur at your placement.
Last week, when I logged onto our bi-weekly DCERP meetings, I realized that nobody had their camera turned on. I’m not sure if I was missing something, or people were just tired after a long work day, or what, but it felt really weird. And this post isn’t meant to call anyone out – I eventually turned my camera off too and for the past few meetings have had it off also. But, it’s a moment I can expand on that sort of reflects the effect the pandemic has had on DCERP and all aspects of our lives. Our most basic interactions with people outside our family unit have been distanced; this has been really difficult for me, because my love language, and the way I connect with people, is through face-to-face interactions, and also touch (like hugs etc). This moment stood out to me because it feels so odd that now, we connect virtually without really connecting. We can be in the same “space” in a virtual meeting, but this space feels emptier now, devoid of connection.
Aw ?. In my defense, I turn off my camera because either I’m eating (I usually like to have lunch right before the meeting) and/or my back hurts from sitting up all day. Yeah, and I noticed that everyone had their cameras off, and you are usually the last to do so. For me personally I feel like the meetings are kinda awkward, especially for more social interactions. That thought might be just me, but I feel like that same reason is why the 2nd social hour didn’t make it. HOPEFULLY, we can plan some sort of hangout, either virtually or in person back on campus, because I REALLY don’t want to lose connection with anyone after our internship is over. In the meantime, I’ll try to keep my camera on ☺️.
Hey Sasha! I have definitely noticed that trend too, and I myself have slowly started to turn my camera off halfway through meetings to eat dinner. It can be really hard to connect with new people from a virtual setting, as compared to meeting virtually with people you already know. Moving forward, I’ll try to keep my camera on too! I never really reflected on this specific aspect of connection in DCERP before, and you brought up some really good points. Thanks for sharing!