At this point in the pandemic, every student, regardless of age, has had an experience with digital and virtual learning, likely over Zoom, something 99% of us hadn't even heard of until earlier this year!

For a lot of people, particularly college students, most, if not all, of our classes are online or over Zoom. It's been a big adjustment for all of us to make; not being able to go to all of our classes in-person and experience college like we normally would can be a real strain. If you're like me, and crave social interaction and human contact, then virtual learning can be really hard. "Zoom fatigue" is a real thing for a lot of people. But I feel like I've had a different experience with Zoom than most other people have had.

My feelings about Zoom have been a bit of a roller coaster from the time I used it for the first time in April, until now, three months into my Fall semester as a senior at Penn State. Since I studied abroad last semester, I hadn't had the time that most other college students have had to get used to Zoom by the time Fall semester rolled around.

I was really optimistic coming into this semester. I had a really positive attitude, and was always pointing out to my friends how, "it'll be great to have all of our classes on Zoom once the weather changes in the fall! That way we can do classes from our beds when it's snowing, raining, and below 40 degrees!" And now that it's started to cool down, I really appreciate being able to do class from my bed or on my couch, ESPECIALLY on days that I don't feel like getting up! But about a month and a half into the semester, Zoom fatigue hit me out of nowhere.

I didn't want to log on to any of my classes, and I was doing anything I could for human interaction, even if it meant walking to the HUB just to wander around and grab food, just so I could people-watch and not be stuck at home! I had been spending so much time in front of my phone and laptop screens that I was getting headaches all the time, and it really got me down. I felt like I was going stir-crazy, which is something I feel regularly, being a girl who grew up in a big city and is going to college in a small town in rural central Pennsylvania.

Then, my patience was really put to the test when I had to self-isolate after being exposed to COVID. My 10 days of isolation, which meant I had no contact with anyone other than my roommate, were so incredibly hard, and it really opened my eyes and made me sympathize with anyone who has had to be in mandatory isolation because they tested positive. They had to recover from being sick, on top of mandatory isolation for two whole weeks! I thought I could understand what that was like, but I still can't even imagine, because I was going crazy trying to stay in touch with people via FaceTime just three days into my isolation!

That was a couple weeks ago. Now, I feel like I'm finally settling into regularly using Zoom, and making adjustments in my schedule and life to compensate for the way that it has changed my schedule. I make myself take breaks from being in front of my screen if I've been on my phone or computer for a couple hours, I do what I can to get out of my apartment and safely spend time with my friends here at school, and I use FaceTime a lot more often, as a way to keep in touch with my friends and family in a more personal way than over Instagram or Snapchat, or even texting. I've come to appreciate apps like FaceTime and Zoom as a blessing in the form of allowing us to be able to communicate face-to-face, even when I'm far from home. Without them, I wouldn't have an internship, or be able to participate in THON with Penn State on a committee, or talk to my friends and family whenever I want to, from wherever I am!

It's been a rough road, and I can't promise that it's going to get easier right away, but it'll get better.