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Nia Kaul

The New Normal

Can you believe that the circuit breaker was more than one year ago? One year.


Do you remember the relief of being able to wake up thirty minutes later than you would on a usual school day? Or the freedom of doing whatever you wanted in between lessons? These are all things that each and every one of us experienced, as the coronavirus pandemic impacted not only our local school community, but the entire world.


As individuals, we all had our own unique ways to pass the time. Be it reading, baking, or chatting online with our friends, the circuit breaker gave us more spare time than we probably would have liked to have. I personally enjoyed myself by indulging in a 1500 piece jigsaw puzzle during my free time.


Online learning was a rollercoaster of both ups and downs for many, and everyone came out of the experience with very mixed opinions. I’ve spoken to many friends asking what they felt about the experience, and some say they didn’t enjoy it at all, while others would do anything to go back. On this spectrum, I would consider myself at around the center of the spectrum, as there were many moments that I thoroughly enjoyed, while others not so much.


Of course, one major aspect of physically being at school are the social interactions that come along with it. Being at school, in person, allows us to confide in our peers, bond with them through inside jokes, and work together. I later realised, when I was home alone, that perhaps I took these moments for granted.


Being at home made me feel rather isolated, and I found it difficult to adapt to the long hours of sitting at my screen for hours on end. I didn’t enjoy not being able to have my peers next to me during lesson time, and spending break and lunchtimes alone was definitely not my cup of tea. Regardless of this, I made an effort to stay in touch with my friends every day, either by messages, or video chatting. Understandably, this was one of the main factors that pushed people against the idea of online learning, as the majority of people consider their friends to be the backbone of the school experience.


Others may have not valued their online experience as much, as they felt as if their general quality of learning while being at home had declined. This could have been due to many reasons, all of which are completely valid. Wanting to learn more about the opinions of some of the people I am close with, I confided in my friends, who all gave me a few different reasons as to why this was. I learned that one restriction of being at home, the ability to walk up to your teacher and ask them a question, was no longer a possibility. There was a much longer process to this, which required either sending your teacher an email or a Google chat message, which in itself takes around at least ten minutes to get a response from. Then an online meeting could be arranged. However, the assignment could have already been completed in the time it took for all of this to happen.


Aside from this, there were many upsides that contributed to a lot of the excitement during the online learning period, such as having more learning independence at home.


Being at home during the school day unlocked a lot more possibilities with what we chose to do between lessons. A lot of fun activities ranged from indulging in a good book, to installing ‘Netflix Party’ to watch your favourite shows with your friends. All in all there were many different aspects of the entire experience that ultimately contributed to the varying levels of enjoyment, however, it is important to understand that everyone has their own preferences when it comes to their learning.


If it were to all happen again, frankly, I wouldn’t mind it. Although it would be very harsh to not be able to see my friends on a daily basis, I enjoy the idea of being able to lead a more independent life at home.


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