Dear Quarantine:

We've been under quarantine for 24 days now. While some businesses are experiencing an inconsiderable drop in turnover putting entrepreneurs and employees at risk, others are expanding. Video conferencing apps, such as Zoom, House Party or the famous Skype app, are very popular. Between the 16th and the 22nd of March, the Zoom application had 114.7K downloads. Alone at home, away from families and friends, applications like these allow us to keep that social connection that individuals need so much. We can also notice the use of these apps within elderly people. Social networks help isolated people to keep in touch with their relatives.

Many years ago, children stayed living with their parents. Nowadays it is no longer customary to live with one's parents. On the contrary, living with ours parents while being an adult is perceived as a failure of life. But this is another debate. So how did it change?

Family, is the fundamental instance of primary socialization which takes place during childhood. Since the beginning of the 1970s, family has been reconstructing itself and taking on a new definition. The causes? Well…the decrease in the number of marriages, more divorces, new forms of alliances, the increase in the number of single people, etc…

There was also a physical distance, between children and parents due to the increase in the standard of living that has allowed the children to take their interdependence. Better income means more opportunities such as buying a house, eating healthier, more innovation possibles, etc…The creation of new technologies resulting from this increase in the standard of living has made it possible to keep in touch with one's family and friends. Indeed, now we can freely live somewhere else, in another neighborhood, city, country or another continent. We are a lot more serene. Miles apart we still feel connected.

Whereas beforehand, we had to wait a week or more, for the postman to give us a letter, now in a second we can talk to this person who might live miles away from us. It is even more relevant during this period of quarantine. People want to keep in touch with their friends and family and it is easier through social media.

Elderly people have had to adapt to this new technology in order to stay connected with their family. Quarantine doesn't stop people from having fun, either. We notice the increase of some game application sur as Trivia.io and mostly TikTok.

By Emma Lunte