Straight and Seamless
Prior to 2020, life had a lot of seams. Seamstresses know that a correctly stitched seam is intended to keep something from falling apart. The tension of the thread through fabric is important since it keeps the pieces joined but separate. Seams of minerals provide a visible map of where to mine. Older faces have seams from laughter and age. Proof of a life lived. Scars often have seams to keep them safely closed. There are seams that exist to define parts of our lives.
Seams to separate
Work and play lives used to have more seams. When you interview for a new job, it is actually against the law to ask questions about personal lives to avoid unfair thoughts about candidates. After a year of seeing more of each others’ lives through online video access, that seam became looser and ripped open at times. Many of us felt a little exposed or tried hard to control what went on in the background to hide the reality of life. The use of fake backgrounds should be examined for what prompted that need to disguise a life. Instead of just embracing the fact that we all have real lives that aren’t work, some felt it was not acceptable to show it. It should not have come as a surprise that we all had lives. When we previously left work everyday, we all had somewhere to go.
Really Seamless
For wallpaper, not seeing the seam is the goal. When professionally completed, a wallpapered room can be extraordinary. The patterns, colors, textures and selections are without end. They represent every possible beautiful choice. Just like our lives. We probably don’t need the seam that separates work and personal lives to prove that we are able to perform in both areas. We were able to decrease the judgement when we saw each other’s lives on screen and return to discussing whatever important topic was on tap. Even when there were occasional interruptions from play lives in the background, our brains could still function correctly. We even enjoyed some of these chances to see what kind of humanity we caught in the view behind. Cats, dogs, kids and partners became bit players. The seam didn’t separate us as much.
Separate Cautiously
Hopefully, we will appreciate the takeaways from the ways we accommodated our work and play lives this last year. It didn’t take any code of conduct changes, it didn’t require your manager’s approval, it didn’t even prompt a lot of conversation to get over what to think after the first couple of occasions. It took being more human and humane. It took understanding that our lives were actually alright overlapping. It wasn’t the end of the world. It might have actually been the beginning of a new one.
Do you have thoughts about hiding while onscreen? Has the integration of work into life at home been beneficial or detrimental? Have you taken the time to accept that your onscreen presence is actually you?
