apieceofger

[apieceofger]

My ECQ Journey

It has been a year since the pandemic has commenced. For a long span of time, a lot has happened yet nothing seemed to happen. Who would have imagined that what we thought was only a weeklong suspension of classes last year, would eventually turn into a year of barely surviving. Coming that far, it has never been a smooth sail for me, and for most of us I bet. Due to the circumstances brought about by this pandemic, there has been a massive change in our everyday living that completely transformed the way things are.

Accordingly, since safety precautions had to be met to contain the spreading of the disease, schools were also gravely affected that it forced us to embrace an entirely new form of learning through online schooling. I would say, it was not really a great shift for us, even up until now that we have already gone through two semesters. However, we were necessitated to adapt to the situation – and that fact alone saddens me because no matter how bad we wanted to be in our actual classrooms once again, we could not do anything about it but to endure the burden and stay at home, for it is the least we can do to help. Right from the start, a lot of us can argue that online school is a whole different level of exhaustion, since there is nearly an imperceptible boundary between our space for rest and work. I remember I always wanted to go to school even in days where we do not have classes because it somehow provides me an escape from all the problems I could ever think about at home. But now, I have to switch roles very often as a student, daughter, sister, all at the same time, and that is something really hard to sustain every single day.

I also started to feel disheartened much of the time because I consider my circle of friends as my ultimate support system, especially to someone like me who is not absolutely attached to her family. Yet, the routines we loved doing in school suddenly became limited to laptop screens and phone calls. In the organization I am a part of, we also had no other choice but to conduct events online – everything just turned into a virtual sphere with perhaps, no genuine connection at all. Honestly, I feel like this online setup has not brought anything nice to me except the fact that I do not have to wake up too early anymore for my morning class. Besides that, there is no academic growth, personal development, and just that mere enjoyment I used to have in learning. As time continues, it makes me even more anxious to think about what the future might hold for every one of us in something that seems to be a never-ending cycle of panic. Sometimes, I tend to pause and ponder about how we got into this kind of situation and if whether we still have our hopes up to look forward to what has yet to come.

It is becoming harder to cope as days pass by. Apparently, this pandemic has brought too much that it almost robbed us off our lives. In my family, my sister needed to resign from her job because their industry was severely affected and she was no longer paid fairly. Just a few weeks ago, my whole family had symptoms of the virus, thankfully, we have recovered well. My mom also needed to stop working. My brother, who is a college freshman, did not even have the chance to experience his first day inside the university. And me, being one of the first batch of senior high school, is now challenged by online school and troubled by the thought of possibly graduating virtually. Right now, I cannot say how certain I am to what I am feeling, but I am really frustrated in all possible terms. The people are sick, the poor are starving, the doctors are wearied, and our resources are starting to scarce, but in spite of all those, we still have no concrete direction ahead of us – neither do plans nor well-defined schemes to guide us out of this chaos. The struggle of living in uncertainty is much of a great deal for us to handle, and maybe no amount of rest can ease our worries, not unless we get out of this poor condition. It has been a year – a lot has happened, yet nothing seemed to happen.

(Photo credits to the owner)

@bertongbigtime​

[apieceofger]

SOCIAL LISTENING

Upon browsing the link, I have noticed that the videos focus much on DIY creations, most of which I am familiar of because I do watch from those YouTube channels and some, I just get to see while scrolling through my newsfeed and stop to play the video. Personally, I can say that I am really fond of watching and actually doing DIY stuff because aside from it is easy to make, it also does not require much spending of money. It promotes creativity in all sense while actually helping to reduce waste because most of the time, these videos require recyclable materials and resources that are just available around your corner. Aside from that, there are times when I just enjoy watching these types of videos itself because of the entertainment value while offering comprehensive ideas and knowledge on simple things like properly decluttering your room or doing improvisations on your own. I suppose that other Filipinos prefer DIY channels or videos for the same reason as well.

Filipinos have always been known for their practicality which makes these videos appeal very well to their attention and interest. It provides them with some element of self-discovery which I think motivates them to keep in the pace of the video. More so, considering that these videos are interactive in nature, it encourages the viewers to partake in the content presented and find out useful results, thereby urging inclusive engagement from a wide variety of audiences. This simply shows that Filipinos are into creative themes where they are able to express themselves no matter their age group – from children to adults, all are immersed with the idea of not only DIYs but generally vlogs and all other social video contents that are now easily accessible in the digital world of the internet. 

(Photo credits to the owner)

@bertongbigtime​ 

[apieceofger]

DIGITAL PUBLISHING TRENDS

Digital publishing has been emerging along with the rise of modern technology; however, it is in the face of pandemic that its utilization has been even more intrinsic due to the restrictions imposed on physical interactions. With this, more businesses and publishers invest in developing contents for online platforms where there are higher number of consumers. After reading the article, I personally find it true and relatable because the trends are actually observable in our everyday lives. Like me for example, whenever I need to look for news and information, the first thing that comes to my mind is to browse on search engines like google. For communication, e-mail and facebook messenger have been so common to me. I am also fond of music, games, and movies, as well as artificial intelligences like google assistant—all in the digital world.

With this, I think the rise of mobile devices is what will be most welcome to Filipinos because of its accessibility at a low cost. Aside from daily news reports, other essential services are also made possible in mobile devices which is undeniably a huge advantage causing it to be popular among consumers. Moreover, considering that the Philippines has been regarded as the social media capital of the world, online sharing and digital engagement is obviously no longer new to Filipinos. Mobile devices almost became a basic necessity for all because of its diverse functionality; and I believe that as it continues to improve, people will also continue to adapt to it.

(Photo credits to the owner)

@bertongbigtime

[apieceofger]

WHY GO DIGITAL

As we enter the digital age, there have been drastic technological improvements and industrial developments that occurred. We have evolved into a stage where the world, although enormous, have been compressed easily thereby connecting all its parts into a single virtual sphere. With this, it is nearly impossible for us to prevent the advancement of going digital, especially that its services benefit a massive portion of the population. Personally, I must say that I am really in favor of going digital because, this will allow us to expand the reach of our connections without having to pay much, in fact, free in most cases. Accordingly, going digital crucially helps both the publisher and the audiences in some sense because it enables the return of a larger revenue while at the same time, making it easier for the viewers to look and purchase products, and avail services in the comfort of their mobile phones.

Going digital also provides opportunity for people to earn without having to do much heavy labor similar to traditional setups. For instance, vlogging – which has highly been a popular trend nowadays. Basically, what you will do is just to film an interesting content interactively, upload it, gather viewers, and just through that, your videos can actually be monetized. The difficult part may come at first particularly if you are a newbie, but eventually, it will somehow be adaptive to you. Moreover, it also makes way for free advertising because of the power of social media which certainly benefits small businesses specifically now that we are currently in a pandemic. I believe that the digital world will really improve our state and way of living, however we must also be careful in shifting rapidly because there will always be the less well-off who does not have the capacity to adopt innovations in an instant.

(Photo credits to the owner)

@bertongbigtime​