Evan Vrkljan
My Covid-19 experience has been noneventful but impactful to things such as my everyday life. Most of my Covid experience has been with online school and adjusting to everything converting to an online presence. At the beginning of the pandemic, I was in the middle of moving to a new apartment and working. I, unfortunately, was unable to keep my job and had to apply for CERB. Communicating with people strictly online has been challenging as you miss that face-to-face interaction, and it doesn't feel quite the same as if you were to be with someone in person. Covid-19, for me overall, has been a slow quarantine, and I look forward to when everything slowly converts back to how it once was.
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Object Image: Oculus Quest 2 VR Headset with Controllers The reason I've decided to include this object as it has been impactful to how I communicate and staying a bit more active during the pandemic. It is the thing that has added a more physical interaction with communication with friends during a time where you can only meet people online. It has a mixture of puzzle games, fitness games, pure chat platforms, and even movie viewing experiences with friends. It was great when we had the month lockdown where people were not allowed to go out for any reason other than the essentials. |
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Primary Source: Working From Home I chose this primary source because my mother was working from home as a public health nurse. While working, she has had to help with the Covid information hotline, where people would come to ask questions about the pandemic and get test results back. She was also responsible for helping create the covid signs and information to help guide our community during the pandemic. One of the worst things about this pandemic is during the lockdown; people would call and yell and scream over the phone, mentally tasking on her. Most of the reasons are due to people under a lot of stress during the pandemic and uncertainty about covid-19. Even though it isn't the front line where there is a risk of being exposed to the virus, I still believe she helped many people and helped prevent the spread of the virus. |
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PERSONAL REACTION: Global Chip Shortage I've included this headline as the global chip shortage affected many companies during the pandemic and has snowballed into a huge problem in some areas. During the pandemic, companies that make cars, home appliances, computers, and more. Since there has been this shortage of chips, the market has had limited stock, and this has encouraged scalpers to buy products in bulk and sell them back to consumers at rates seen up to 250% above MSRP. Scalpers have made it hard to purchase some products and made most people wait more than a year for some products at a reasonable price or force you to pay. |
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| VISUALIZING COVID-19
This poster is from Fraser health and in a Global News article explaining how the impacts of attending a wedding during the pandemic can trickle down to others and even lead to someone's death for something as simple as a wedding. |
COVID Q&A
Describe the moment you realized how serious COVID-19 was:
Our first lockdown happened in March of 2020; before that, there were talks of a virus spreading with flu-like symptoms from china in February. I talked to a friend about this while doing a group project for one of my university courses. I wasn't particularly watching the news or keeping up with what was going on, and I didn't believe that a flu-like thing would cause us to shut things down. A month later, when I was getting ready for my morning lecture, my roommate explained that we received an email from the university saying that they were canceling classes for the next week. I then realized at that moment that things were going to change.
What did you learn about yourself or the people you live with during COVID-19?
I consider myself to be introverted as I am not one to put myself out there. Covid has shown me even though I, as an introverted person, wouldn't love to "never have to go out and interact with people again," I would regret that choice and would miss wanting to go out and talk to people. I find that any time I've gone out to do things, I've been more vocal with something as simple as talking to the cashier while I checkout from the store.
Other than wearing a mask, what was the most significant change you made to your daily life? Do you think this change will remain when all lockdowns are lifted?
Working remotely for school has been the most significant change that has impacted my daily life and not working at a physical location part-time. I've heard plans to some fields such as software developers offered to work at home permanently. From what I have heard about this, it has increased productivity in some places and hasn't changed workplace flow. I also think around flu seasons that we might adopt face masks to wear regularly. Before flu seasons, we used lots of hand sanitizer and hoped not to get sick. Now that we have across Canada used face masks and have purchased cloth masks, these can now be regularly used during flu season or even when an individual feels inadequate to protect others.
Have you learned any new skills during the pandemic?
Collaboration online has been one of the newer things that I have had to learn this past year. While in school for Software Engineering, it is not uncommon to collaborate with others in many of the courses required for this degree. Communicating effectively and concisely has been vital for the past year; working in groups of five or more and coordinating meetings, pair programming sessions, and coordinating for due dates, you would have to learn to handle everything efficiently. Online school intensifies this because everything is online and coordinating every aspect of group work without meeting in person and coordinating with everyone else's online schedule.
How do you feel about university education in the last year?
I feel as it hasn't been as great as it could have been. Missing actual lectures and substituting them to online felt lesser than. Most people compared it to paying thousands of dollars to watch online videos of a particular topic with content that wasn't as challenging. They had to scale back the content because it is for in-person and not for an online experience. So, with everything being reduced content, no in-person lectures or labs, this not only to me but many other students didn't feel right we still had to pay the same tuition as in person. The quality of the education is still good, and you learn quite a bit. However, it feels different and not as great as if you were to do it in person with others and face to face with the professor, and it feels like it is the light version of what we are supposed to do.
List one positive thing and one negative thing you'll take away from 2020:
A positive thing to take away from this pandemic is that I know no one close to me or myself to have contracted Covid. Though Ontario has seen some of the highest breakouts of this pandemic, everyone close to me has stayed in good health and has not become infected with Covid.
A negative thing is conflicts that have arisen from this pandemic and who has been overall affected. Mainly the spread of misinformation has led some to get sick with Covid or delaying the pandemic because of not following our health guidelines put in place by our government.
What is the best movie or TV show you've watched or the best book you've read in the past 18 months?
During the pandemic, I have taken to watching more lighthearted and goofy content as turning on the news was enough to keep you even more depressed with the ongoing pandemic. I watched cartoon shows like Family Guy and American Dad because of their goofy humor, and it was always suitable to watch short episodes while working on a school in the background.
How has technology impacted your life during a lockdown?
Technology has become essential to the everyday life of most people, including me, during the pandemic. With almost every activity tied to some electronic being in software engineering, my classes are online. Completing most of my work requires me to sit in front of a computer for long hours and complete assignments. It is also one of the only ways to communicate with people instantly outside your household without breaking guidelines.
In what ways do you envision society changing due to the pandemic? Now that you are done with both the course and your additions to the archive, is there anything you'd like to reflect on?
The pandemic has its downs, but there were always learning experiences that have resulted in at least some good. Things such as the further progression of the black lives matter and their progress with stopping black hate. We have shed light on the ongoing problem with the Canadian government and church with the treatment of aboriginals. There is still a lot of activism with these topics, and I believe we as Canadians will reflect harder on what we have done in the past and now realize that we have ignored many issues. Canadians will continue to correct the wrongs of our history, and hopefully, we can move on in our future generations with more equity and equality.