Humans can be eroded too

The COVID-19 pandemic is undoubtedly taking a toll on all of us, worse for some people and not so bad for others, but everyone has seen their lives altered by the virus, if only by the expectation that we should all keep social distance. A few days ago I was listening to an episode of one of my reference podcasts, Hidden Brain, where Nicholas Bloom, an economist from Stanford, was reporting about his year long studies about home-office and how the pandemic had resulted in an unexpected natural experiment by sending millions of people to work from their homes. Unsurprisingly, wealth inequalities are also visible in the rate of adoption of home office in three different ways:

1. Workers with a higher level of education typically earn more than their peers with lower education. But it is precisely the workers with the highest level of education those who are best candidates for home office. Sectors like construction, manufacturing and retail, which normally require lower level of education are worse suited for home office (if at all).
2. Having a stable internet connection capable of driving a video conference is not a given even in the Western world. People living in rural areas and certain disfavored neighborhoods of cities do not have the reliable internet access that is common in wealthier urban and sub-urban areas.
3. The third determining factor for a successful migration into home office is the availability of dedicated space. Workers who are forced to work from home in their living rooms or in a corner of their own bedrooms are much less happy with the new arrangement than those who have been able to convert a spare room or a closet into a (relatively) isolated space where they can work undisturbed.

In my personal case, the situation is fairly good. I check all the three boxes above, so my working conditions at home are acceptable, and yet I miss the bustle of the office. As Nicholas Bloom pointed out, the optimal solution would be finding a balance between home office and onsite office (e.g. two days at home, three in the office), so that we can retain some of the improvements we have made thanks to the pandemic without losing the contact that the office facilitates. But my situation is, in many ways, enviable, because many people cannot access to these conditions.

Photo: CatalpaSpirit

My kids, for instance, have been troubled coming back to school routine after the over-long holidays. Homeschooling has been mandated in town at least until January 31st, so they knew they would not be dragging themselves to school anytime, but they found that several video conferences had been scheduled for 07:50 in various days, so at least they have to crawl out of bed in time to get dressed and have breakfast. Luckily I still had my good old Linux Mint computer and Trevor was able to use it to connect to his meeting while Jason used his laptop and I worked on mine. However, contrary to previous periods of homeschooling when all the homework was scheduled on Monday morning, allowing the kids to plan their week, this time new assignments kept coming over the first week, making them fear in panic: "We will never manage to finish all the homework". Luckily, the pressure has now eased a little bit. They still have some meetings at 07:50 (which I find a good measure to give a bit of a normal schedule), but the workload has evened out and fallen into the manageable. Still, on Friday one of Jason's teacher organized  "Let's meet now". Of course, this is a terrible practice because, unless you are literally checking your email every five minutes, the chances that you miss the notification are very high. Fortunately, a friend of him sent him a message telling him about it and he joined just a few minutes late.

One of the side effects of the homeschooling is that the kids have even more free time, that they regularly spend in front of screens and mine are not exception to that. Experts have already warned that, once live re-opens to the former conditions, there will be a period of epic withdrawal. Everybody will have to re-learn how to live their lives, but kids will be the most affected since theirs was among the biggest change in lifestyle: from spending a big portion of the day out of the house at school and other activities to turning to phones, tablets and consoles as almost sole source of entertainment. Fortunately, the problem is not here yet and, being aware of the dangers, they can be mitigated so that the transition to normal life is less troubled.

However, there is a group of people that might never see the end of the pandemic, not because the fall to the virus, but because the situation has driven them to such a level despair that many of them end up taking their own lives. The combination of loneliness, unemployment and the unrelenting flow of bad news is costing lives and the mental health of many across all levels of society, but particularly so among the poorest and in the poorest countries. In the meantime, the stock exchanges, focused on making profit out of betting their money, keep hitting record levels, regardless of the amount of suffering that this pandemic and grueling inequalities in our society are causing. 

I have also had hard moments in the last months, and indeed these pages are part of the self-imposed treatment to keep a modicum of mental health, breaking the vicious circle of work-family-repeat with a few minutes of dedicated reading, deep thought and creative writing. This formula has helped me but it might not be the right solution for everyone. At any rate, if you feel your mood sinking, please seek out help: your family, your friends, your work colleagues. Loneliness (or even depression) is not that uncommon anymore, and not even regarded with mistrust as it was in the second half of the 20th century at the peak of the AIDS spread. In the same way that these days anyone can be infected with COVID, many people are in need of emotional support, including healthcare providers.

I can only hope that it is not your case, but if it is please do not hold your voice and speak up. Everybody deserves to be helped. Have a nice weekend.