Remember last March when we were all told that we were going to get two weeks off school. And then that got extended for another week. And then for the rest of the year we were stuck at home doing online school. Then the next school year we started and ended on zoom university. Well, a year and and a half later and we’re back in school. Some are glad to be back in real school, having missed the social interaction and being anywhere but home. And others are really missing those sweet perks of taking online school in the comfort of their own home. If you’re like us we’re really missing these ten perks of online school:
How long does it take you to pick an outfit now? Ten? Twenty? Or maybe even thirty minutes? Searching and scanning your closet, pulling multiple tops and jeans out. Going through a multitude of outfits before landing on the right one. Now you’re rushing out the door because you’re running late for class. But with online school – oh, how we miss it -there was no pressure of finding an outfit for the day. Nobody’s going to see what you’re wearing besides your shirt, that’s if you even turn your camera on. It was so easy to just wear the pajamas you wore to bed the night before, or to put on a comfy lounge wear matching set, if you could stir up the effort to do so. Perhaps you could still wear jammies to school, but everyday? Someone may start to be concerned for you.
Setting that alarm for five minutes before class starts was a sweet, sweet memory. Grabbing your laptop and laying back down in bed was so nice, especially for an early 8 am class. Not to mention the shorter commute to school, approximately 5 feet from your desk where your laptop is and back in bed. Saving time for more minutes of precious beauty sleep. Now we’re back to getting up extra early to have to get ready, eat breakfast, and walk/drive to school. Ugh, how did we do it before the pandemic.
Lunch at school has always been very limiting, whether you bring your own lunch, that you eat as soon as you get to school, or buy lunch from the few restaurants your college campus has. But with online school at home, there were plenty of more options to get your grub. Your kitchen is right there, you can sneak away from class and grab a snack, or whip up a meal during one of your breaks. Or since delivery apps like Doordash or Uber Eats basically exploded because of the pandemic, you could order your from your favorite places, and have it delivered right to your door. Being at home was great for this very reason.
In school, our breaks between classes are often spent studying at the library, meeting up with friends, or getting a workout in at the gym. Being at home, there were many more options of what you could do such as: taking a nap, curling up on the sofa and watching a movie, taking your dog for a walk, hanging out with your family, playing video games, making the whipped coffee from TikTok, and yes, studying was being done, but you could do that while in your own bedroom. Less free time with real, in-person classes, but it’s okay because now you get to see your friends everyday again.
With online school, there was way more flexibility in your schedule. Many classes were asynchronous, meaning you could watch the recorded lectures and review the material on your own time. This helped many who were still working and had little flexibility in their work schedule. Balancing work and school life is back to being difficult to work out, so we miss that perk of virtual class on your own time.
Participating in a zoom call was so much easier than participating in actual class. You don’t feel the pressure of everyone’s eyes staring at you. Let alone, all the anxiety that would cause to answer a question in class. Taking a class on zoom, you just see people’s names across their profile icon, or if people do have their cameras, they probably weren’t even paying attention to you and rather scrolling through their social media. And if the professor called on you when you didn’t know the answer, pretending you had poor Internet connection was always a card you could pull. Not so much now that we’re back in school.
College tuition is hella expensive. Loans, grants, scholarships, and paying out of pocket are all needed to afford a higher education. Not only is it a financial strain, but it’s a strain on your mental health, too. Since classes turned to virtual, colleges could no longer charge the same exorbitant prices. If there is any superior silver lining to the virtual college experience, it’s that it wasn’t costing us all as much.
We don’t know about you, but for us, when we’re in a college class and the people behind us are constantly talking, the tall guy sitting in front of us makes it hard to see the board, and that one girl a row over is eating her breakfast of hot cheetos, it can be hard to concentrate in class with all of these distractions. Hopefully, your family at home was mindful of you being in class and were quiet. If so, then we can imagine how much of a relief it was not to have to deal with those pestering distractions and miss out on learning in a class you’re paying for.
During quarantine it seemed like everyone was picking up new hobbies to spend their newfound free time, and to keep themselves from going stir crazy. It was especially very important for all of us to maintain a good mental health and doing so by keeping busy with new passions. What hobby did you pick up? Playing Among Us? Learning TikTok dances? Working out? Drawing? Reading? Whatever it was it seemed like that time of all of our lives allowed us to look after and take care of ourselves.
Let’s face it, we all did it. While many professors allowed you to use notes on exams, because how could they stop you, there were still some who strongly felt that cheating was still something they could control. They would say “I can see when you switch to another tab on your computer” and maybe so, but they can’t see the notes that are taped against your wall to help a college kid out.
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