Temperamental Technology and Teams Torture

To the people who ‘preferred online school to normal school’, I just want to say congratulations, because I believe I’m in the majority when I say online learning was dreadful.

From missing deadlines to people yelling “you’re on mute”, the trials and tribulations of working from home will be burned into the memories of many of us forever.

Ok, let’s be honest. Have you, or have you not, attended at least one lesson from your bed? If the answer is no, you’re either lying or have at least logged on in pyjamas. Still no? Top half formal and bottom half pyjamas counts. One thing I mastered was the art of staying in bed for as long as possible before my first lesson started (I’m talking seconds before it began), yet still technically remaining on time. Nevertheless, even with the extra hour in bed compared to normal school time, you still somehow manage to feel exhausted, though the only movement you’ve done is walk downstairs to the fridge and back. You think “how on earth did I ever manage to wake up at seven o’clock, get the bus, go to five lessons, socialise, and then come home to do homework?” Doing all that in one day now seems

impossible, especially when making a lunch that isn’t Heinz tomato soup or super noodles has become a struggle.

Lunchtime was always the highlight of my day. A whole half an hour where you can act normally without panicking that you’re unmuted? Bliss.

Virtual lessons will never feel right. No matter how competent the teacher is, there will always be either a technical issue or an awkwardness in every lesson. Take for example when a teacher asks a question and you know the answer (and you know everyone knows the answer), but everyone feels too awkward to actually unmute... so we sit in silence until the teacher calls on someone. Sometimes it feels we all have a sixth sense when it comes to teachers asking questions. It’s like we can recognise we’re about to be called on, and it’s always fear inducing. Like many others, I have a group chat for each subject where we would often ask the same questions, “does anyone know what page we’re on?”, “has anyone got a picture of the PowerPoint?” and of course, the most frequently asked, “what the hell is going on???”. These chats would often be active during lessons; however, we’d rarely be communicating in them normally. Instead we’d be hyping each other up to unmute. For some reason, asking a question that’s completely valid and necessary is terrifying. How very Gen Z.

From awkward eye contact with window cleaners, to family clattering about the one time you’re unmuted, there were so many encounters that made online learning horrendous in the moment, yet hilarious as we reminisce. Overall, learning virtually was difficult. There is no doubt about that. Frankly, a typical day for me would consist of waking up seconds before my first lesson, lazing downstairs to grab my laptop (just to immediately return to my bedroom that has become a glorified cave of unwashed clothes, uncompleted worksheets, and dirty mugs). Only then would I go to my lessons, try to interact at least once, eat, and go back to bed. My timetable became merely a loose guide, breaktimes would become breakfast and I’d have a shower at lunchtime. It gradually became like groundhog-day. Every day was the same.

It was exhausting even though we did nothing; anxiety inducing even though we were alone. It’s hard to see assignments piling up after every single lesson and not being able to complete any of them. Nothing about online learning was easy. It was migraines, backache and exhaustion even if there were funny moments. And after all that, somehow, I still don’t really know how to work Microsoft Teams.

Written by Lucy McMillian

Artwork by Lucy McMillian