by Gina Griffin, DSW, MSW, LCSW
(Disclaimer: I’m not sponsored by, nor do I’ve any affiliation with, any of those merchandise, aside from being a fangirl.)
It looks like each yesterday, and a really very long time in the past, that we had been on lockdown through the pandemic. I’ve plenty of combined emotions about that point. In some ways, I believe I had a a lot simpler time than others, as a result of I’m a hardwired introvert. I desire my very own firm (and Canine’s) to most different people. And I can go with out a gathering for a really very long time. Nonetheless, there have been some very onerous days. Throughout that point, I used to be appearing as a household caregiver, working my full-time job, and finishing my doctorate. There have been days once I couldn’t see how I might survive my schedule and my life. Expertise helped me to try this.
Studying and Listening Apps
I’ve been an enormous reader my entire life, so studying apps had been my first line of psychological protection. My three favorites are Libby, Hoopla, and Audible.
Libby and Hoopla are library-centric apps that assist you to borrow books and different media without cost together with your native library card. I don’t suppose I’d bodily stepped into the library for years. However our native county libraries obligingly switched to on-line card renewals throughout lockdown, in order that was organized simply. Libby means that you can borrow digital books and audio books. You may borrow 10 every of audiobooks, ebooks, or magazines for a most of three weeks. Additionally they assist you to place holds for high-demand books, and you are able to do renewals inside the app. Along with ebooks, audiobooks, and magazines, Hoopla presents music, tv exhibits, films, comics, and graphic novels. There appears to be some variability as to what number of gadgets you’ll be able to borrow at a time, however 10 gadgets appears to be fairly customary. And you may borrow these for 21 days.
For Audible, I handled myself to a normal (paid) membership that supplied me one guide credit score per 30 days. That labored out fairly nicely, since there have been all the time a couple of titles that the native libraries hadn’t gotten but. The app additionally presents a restricted variety of titles which might be included together with your membership. And in case you have Kindle Limitless, plenty of these titles embody the accompanying audio guide, as nicely. (And so they synch throughout gadgets!)
I’ve heard plenty of individuals say that they will’t abide audio books, and I was that manner. A recent study (amongst others) exhibits that evaluating studying to listening “has discovered no vital distinction in comprehension outcomes.” I have a tendency to change backwards and forwards between bodily books, ebooks, and audio books. I’d began listening to books quite a bit once I started my doctoral program, to save lots of me from eye pressure. Through the pandemic, that turned my soundtrack, and my lifeline. I listened to books whereas I cooked, whereas I cleaned, and whereas I wound down for the night. Throughout breaks between sufferers, I might stand on the again steps and watch Canine run across the yard whereas I stole a couple of minutes with my present novel. That turned my peace.
Cooking Tech
I do know that I often follow apps, however I’m going to enterprise into different sorts of tech as we speak. I’ve to, as a result of my Instant Pot was one other go-to throughout that point. I ordered one early on through the lockdown, as a result of it helped us to handle a number of the household dietary necessities quite a bit higher. Usually, I’m neither averse to home tasks nor deeply invested within the course of. It’s only a necessity. However at the moment, cooking turned an act of meditation for me.
I’ve lengthy instructed people that Zen monks use day by day duties as a manner of approaching enlightenment. Working within the kitchen, they remind themselves to keep up focus, and that “while you wash the rice, simply wash the rice. If you chop the carrots, simply chop the carrots.” I began to stay up for that meditation on the finish of the day. Meals prep and an audio guide mixed to offer me an area that was simply mine. It separated my work day from my dwelling life. And my mind produced all the comfortable chemical substances I wanted whereas I chopped, and washed, and spiced on the finish of the work day.
Alexa
I additionally developed a good relationship with Alexa. I’ve had a number of Echo items for a while, and have gone via completely different phases that allowed me to see what Alexa can do. Through the pandemic lockdown, I discovered that she was superb for fogeys with less-than-ideal reminiscences. We set timers all through the day as reminders for issues akin to medicine. And even my mother, who simply tolerates me and all of my tech, loves Alexa. It was simple for her to request music that she needed with out studying new or tough duties. I additionally added a operate that will enable us to ask Alexa to call for assistance if we had been damage or incapacitated. (They’ve since expanded all these providers, and provide a program known as Alexa Together that’s geared particularly towards seniors who’re dwelling alone.)
Moreover, Alexa is simply form of enjoyable. She has plenty of humorous Easter eggs that make her enjoyable to goof round with, and I can’t be the one one who wanted the laughs. I modified her customary response from “You’re welcome” to “Sure, Captain.” I discovered that she’s going to sing a music or inform a joke, if requested. She may be enabled to play trivia, and plenty of different enjoyable video games. I set a immediate in order that once I say, “Alexa, let’s meditate,” she performs one in every of my favourite meditation tracks by linking to Spotify.
And Alexa was made by nerds, for nerds. When you’re a Trekkie (and I’m), and also you ask her to “fire photon torpedoes,” she’s going to fortunately oblige. Ask her to “open the pod bay doors,” or to “use the force,” and he or she has a response for you. There’s a long list of nerdly responses that she can provide you, and I believe I loved all of them.
Instagram, TikTok, and Digital Hope Field—Extra Tech That Obtained Me By
There have been so many different ways in which know-how saved me throughout lockdown. Like many individuals, I turned a fan of D-Nice on Instagram and a member of Membership Quarantine. His music units gave me one thing to stay up for. It felt like a miracle to take heed to him stay from Los Angeles, whereas I hugged Canine in Florida. Even collaborating within the stay chats with the others who had been watching across the globe felt like vital contact. It felt like church, and household, and residential. TikTok movies gave me hits of dopamine and serotonin, and I watched TikToks earlier than going to sleep at evening.
I even tried the Virtual Hope Box. I’d been recommending it for purchasers for a while. I attempted it for myself, and it turned a strategy to keep in mind that there have been nonetheless issues to stay up for. The app means that you can save quotes that encourage you, play video games to distract you, and put rest at your fingertips. You may even save pics and media of individuals and issues that you simply care about. So, I added media to remind myself that I nonetheless wish to run a marathon in Antarctica and drive the Atlantic Ocean Road in Norway. It jogged my memory that lockdown wouldn’t final ceaselessly.
I’ve often joked that I’m the proper teammate in your zombie apocalypse dream group, as a result of I’ve each high-tech and low-tech expertise. The low-tech expertise have been getting me by for many of my life, and people are a dialogue for one more time and one other column. However through the lockdown, for me, know-how saved me each day.
Bursts of Tech Add Worth Past Lockdown
And in case you’re questioning, I nonetheless use nearly all of this know-how on a day by day or weekly foundation. I joke about being part of the “Cult of Instapot,” and I believe it’s form of true. I blame my finest good friend for indoctrinating me. I make pulled BBQ hen at the very least as soon as per week—or chili, or butter hen, or something I’d dream up. And in a bind, I even use it to make meals for Canine, if we run out. Alexa is simply a part of the household, and I despatched an Echo Dot dwelling with my mother.
I stop my job and began a observe at dwelling, so I’ve much less time to take heed to books within the automobile. However I nonetheless stand on the again porch and watch Canine, and take heed to books all through the day. And I nonetheless like winding down with Canine, and my newest guide, as my work day ends. I discover that I now desire the books to tv plenty of the time. Once I consider these little bursts of tech, I take into consideration the truth that they’re meant to reinforce your life, not eat it. And these are additions that, for me, proceed so as to add worth to my day by day life.
Dr. Gina Griffin, DSW, MSW, LCSW, is a Licensed Medical Social Employee. In 2012, she accomplished her Grasp of Social Work at College of South Florida. And in 2021, she accomplished her DSW on the College of Southern California. She started to study R Programming for information evaluation with a view to develop her research-related expertise. She now teaches programming and information science expertise via her web site (A::ISWR) and free Saturday morning #swRk workshops.
