Meeting friends online

Self-isolation period continued on in May 2020. By that time, online meeting got ever popular. Every day I came across on the internet about Zoom and Teams meeting introduced at many companies across Japan.

My friend suggested to have a small party using LINE. We missed our days chatting over glasses of beer at our favourite restaurants. Besides, we cancelled our end of year dinner, hanami party and so many occasion to drink on Sundays.

On the day of my first LINE party, I was not able to access to video chat, and needed to rush to my PC to download the latest version of LINE application. Obviously my mobile phone was too old to download the latest application. I managed to download the app on my PC, and was happy to see my friends whom I haven’t met for a couple of month. We smugly held our favourite beers, and toasted for our health.

After a while, another friend sent me a message on Messenger, and we decided to chat over video call on Messenger. We updated each other’s situation, he explained me what the life was like working from home, and I updated how I was tackling with my homework from my company. We talked over an hour. I really must say gratitude for my friend for suggesting a chat, as I was feeling detached from outside world.

Another day, I texted my friend living abroad for a video call on Messenger. We have not met for a year or so since she moved from Japan. The country she was living has been through a tough lock down, and I was glad to see her well on the screen. We chat over our glasses of wine, and she updated me about her life and her family. Her husband was working from home, so was her daughter who had school online lesson.

Somehow none of my friends suggested to use Skype. Somehow Skype was not familiar in my circle of friends. Perhaps because I was connected to my friends by Facebook and LINE, and Skype was beyond our recognition.

I must say we lived in a good time with the latest technologies can connect us wherever on the earth we may be at. Especially when time like this when people were self-isolating, I think video chat was one of the tool which did provide us a strong sense of connection.