Starting this school year, all of our school’s students have been moved to the online platform Microsoft Teams for learning. Compared to last year’s online format where most teachers didn’t hold mandatory attendance, this year drastically changed by forcing everyone to attend all of their virtual, 50-minute classes. Personally, I am not a huge fan of the online format. It is quite possibly the dullest thing imaginable. Every morning, I wake up to the beautiful melody of the default Apple alarm and the bright, fluorescent lights of a monitor, waiting for the bright green, join button on Spork. My favorite button signals the start of a gorgeous day, full of prosperous learning and fruitful knowledge! Seven classes, 50 minutes, a total of 350 minutes of pure joy and jubilation. However, it’s not that bad because I’m blessed to receive a five minute break period to do whatever I want! Kidding, it’s usually just me looking through social media or browsing the news. I feel like this lack of liveliness is mostly attributed to a lack of social connection. Back at in-person school, you would have time specifically dedicated to talking to people such as sharing stupid stories during lunchtime. But lunch during online school consists mostly of waiting and listening to the dim hum of the microwave as I watch the plate of food spin and spin while also taking a restful, 30-minute, power nap. Instead of looking at real people’s faces and hearing real voices, we all get the pleasure of staring at pixels. Millions of pixels. People’s faces turn into circles with the letter ‘P,’ followed by the first letter of their last name. Not only does the online platform take a toll on the quality of the day, but it also has a heavy impact on motivation. After enduring seven hours of online classes, I begin to start working on my homework which is all online of course. This constant, monotonous repetition drills into my morale and “passion” for learning. All of the assignments are just like a game to me. Finish it on time and gain bonus points. I feel that with the online platform, my main focus has shifted from quality to quantity and trying to accomplish a respectable grade by doing the bare minimum. Clearly, this is not a very sustainable or healthy mindset, but once you fall into it, you’re trapped forever or at least a significant amount of time. The only thing that gets me through online school is hope. Hope that things will get better, and we’ll all get through it together! Nah, I’m kidding. I don’t know what gets me through online school to be honest, but I’m thankful for whatever it is.
