Photo by Jason Rosewell on Unsplash

Let’s get street-smart: communication in a time of crisis, some thoughts.

Face to face is underrated. Two metres apart, no hugging, no handshakes but f2f. It’s needed. Essential.

I know that’s counter-intuitive to say right now and maybe it’s something to look forward to returning. Might seem reckless. But humans don’t self-isolate. Not for any length of time. Maybe we should, but you know we won’t. So we need to do f2f, and do it smartly. Make sure not to infect. But neighbours, community meetings, self-help groups need us. Sure, don't go to large events. But “self-isolated” we are atomised. And weak. Conveniently so.

A friend posts:

Quarantine video-calling has me flashing back to the three-way calls of my adolescence and wondering how someone who spent so many hours racking up so many phone bills became so terrified of speaking to other humans.

Remember the phone? The voice is music and reassurance and nuance.

Facebook is over-rated. Too big, too profitable, too erratic, too likely to bend to autocratic governments (China, Iran, Israel), insecure, has poor privacy settings, is not just permeable to the NSA, GCHQ, hackers and spammers but is actually working hand in glove with them (ref Cambridge Analytica), to create state messaging and win elections.