Pandemic Atlanta Lockdown - Week 40

This week is the last complete working week of 2020. Next week is a half-week and the work year ends next Wednesday. With the pandemic induced self-isolation, loneliness, and work-from-home for the whole year, this year has seen a significant rise in online interaction - for both job and entertainment and human interactions. "Stay home" is said easier than done when it drags on forever. But most of us did our best to the best of our ability, even separated from families due to travel restrictions.

I talked to my Twitter friend about how our Twitter usage has changed this year - mostly increased.  Twitter is my only active social medium. But until 2020 (the pandemic hit hard), I wasn't as active on Twitter. From my Twitter analytics, I see that I posted and received interactions 10X more this year, compared to last year.

For example, in July 2019 (when I defended my Ph.D. thesis in Lisboa), I had 110 tweets, and in July 2020, it was 889. An 8X increase, although I had much more exciting personal updates during March - August 2019 than March - August 2020.

 With 2020 coming to an end, I consider prioritizing and refocusing things as the pandemic does not seem to end by the end of this year. As a policy, I avoid working more than 40 hours/week, as life has more than working. Pre-COVID19, I wasn't home alone, and I could spend time with family. Even when I am alone for short intervals, I tend to go randomly for walks or random trips. With those significantly reduced (not just for me - for most of my friends), we all ended up spending more time in front of computers. I hope to bring back my 2019 healthy lifestyle (both physically and mentally) this 2021.