Staying Connected: Life Online During the Covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic brought about lockdowns and public health guidelines and left Canadians to grapple with the changes it inflicted on their daily lives. With the onset of the pandemic in March 2020 a great deal of Canadians lives switched to being online. This study seeks to understand the impact that working and learning virtually, as well as interacting with friends and family at a distance through screens, has had on people’s daily life. It addresses the question: How are people in Canada navigating and experiencing the switch to ‘online living’ during the Covid-19 pandemic? Qualitative semi-structure interviews were conducted with participants living in Nova Scotia and Ontario and aimed to illuminate their experiences with online life resultant of the pandemic. This paper illustrates that, while the ways in which participants have been navigating theses changes in their lives, be it social, professional, or personal, varied greatly, one thing that is clear is that they are adapting. It will be shown that participants are finding new and creative ways to remain connected to family and friends, mapping out new boundaries in their public and private lives, and reconstructing how they manage impressions and perceptions of self on online platforms.