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Someday this virus will pass. But what will be left? Together with the authors of the “Polyphony” project, we are talking about how lockdown and remote work have changed our self-perception, look at family values and communication with household members.
Own “I” and the issue of personal boundaries
Adapting to new social restrictions, meeting two realities – home and office – is not going smoothly for everyone. We have to re-look for a comfort zone, compromises for living together in remote mode.
The constant presence of even two adults in the same apartment is associated with the loss of a certain personal space. For example, it suddenly turns out that talking on the phone with a friend or mother is inconvenient – because somewhere nearby there are ears all the time. Or this: a teacher from the school calls to discuss the child, and you can’t talk to her, because the child is sitting next to you and hears everything.
In such a situation, it makes no sense to defend the inviolability of your borders, you need to negotiate, explain your desires and hear the other.
On the one hand, during the corona crisis, many people realized how much they need the attention of their family members. On the other hand, it has become incredibly important for us to identify and (if necessary) defend our “I” – our thoughts, our position.
Katerina Alekseenko, author of the project “Happiness” and co-author of the project “Polyphony”:
“We were forced to select new formats of communication with each other. Isolation highlighted some previously unknown problems, gave us the opportunity to think about very important things: how we relate to loved ones, whether we do it. Meanwhile, the realization of oneself and the family are inextricably linked things. Without finding yourself or experiencing an internal conflict, you will not be able to enjoy external factors, communication with other people. If you don’t find family support, you won’t be able to find a resource to find yourself. That is why it is so important to talk about the role of the family today.”
Pandemic generation
It is unlikely that a small child will remember anything specific about the virus itself. Most likely, his memoirs will reflect how the family behaved during a non-standard situation – say, self-isolation. Children watch adults and learn to respond to stress and uncertainty. Therefore, children need to be taught resilience, not panic.
78% of participants in a study conducted by Australian McCrindle Research agreed that the experience of a pandemic will make today’s children more psychologically resilient. Thus, the task of parents is to teach positive behavior wherever possible.
Issues of friendship, communication, socialization of children have also become relevant during the pandemic. And while Zoom and other virtual services allow for communication, they can hardly replace the human closeness or live interaction that is so necessary for the formation of a child or teenager’s personality. In the conditions of total digitalization, how do modern children relate to such fundamental values as friendship?
Ksyusha (15 years old), participant of the Polyphony project:
“Friendship is very important and it is very important for everyone to find their friend. Because this is a person who will always selflessly support you. And it seems to me that this is even more than love, because this person will support you under any circumstances, despite what you have done. This is such a wonderful ray of sunshine that pushes you and supports you. This is the person to whom you can go out of the house without make-up – he always accepts you by anyone.
Alena (17 years old), participant of the Polyphony project:
“Friendship is a very good support and support for a person. Because different things can happen, he may quarrel with his parents and he may need advice from someone other than his parents. And this is a friend. He will listen to you, he will probably take your side, but he may not. But listen, that’s the most important thing.”
Intimacy, literally and figuratively
You probably read a joke about how a husband and wife began to communicate more in quarantine and found out that they have quite a lot in common?
Partners, parents, accustomed to commuting to work every day, settled in the apartment. Remote work allowed them to structure their time more flexibly. And this is one of the most positive impacts of COVID-19: for example, 52% of participants in the McCrindle study indicated that the opportunity to spend more time with loved ones was a good experience, and would like to continue this way.
This unique opportunity may be an impetus for a change in priorities in families and a more balanced distribution of work and personal time in the future.
Katerina Alekseenko, author of the project “Happiness” and co-author of the project “Polyphony”:
“We are closer to each other than we think. The pandemic has become the starting point for changing our understanding of many important things in our lives: we began to ask questions about the role of the family, to realize its true value. We asked questions on these topics to our heroes.
The project “Polyphony” contains stories of heroes of different ages and professions. Its value lies in the fact that we can look at ourselves from the outside – any person recognizes himself in one of the narrators. After all, these are ordinary people: our neighbors, colleagues, friends. Their stories will make it clear that everyone has the opportunity to get the support of loved ones, develop and be happy, despite external factors, like a pandemic or something else.
The Polyphony project is multi-format. It consists of a YouTube video interview, an episode of the Happiness podcast, and Instagram posts. The authors of “Polyphony” make a separate emphasis on visualization – for them it is also a way to show the essence of the idea of ”fixing” time with the help of photographs and videos, the value of creating family archives.
Zumrad Normatova, photographer and co-author of the Polyphony project:
“We often postpone important events until later. Especially the things that really matter to us. I think now is the time. Often people argue like this: there will be a significant event – someone’s birthday or, say, a wedding – then we will arrange a photo session. The pace of life also plays a role – now everything is very fast: we take quick selfies, pictures for social networks. As a result, the importance of the photo is underestimated. But for me it’s not. The photo is the imprint of time. Sometimes we need to pull ourselves together and say – I need to remember my 21st year of life, 29th, 55th. And at this moment you should think not only about yourself, but also about what you will show to your family, your children, nephews. We need to think about this now. To gather and make these family archives. Shooting is emotions and memories. These are the events that bind the family together. Events that you live together.
The project “Polyphony” has already started. Therefore, stay tuned for the release of the stories of heroes in and episodes on YouTube channel .