I use it for work, leisure, to communicate, to inform myself. Since the pandemic, I am practically glued to my laptop, as there is not much else to do. It is almost as if I have grown a new limb.
After I get up in the morning, I press the red button. The light flickers up on my screen, and I watch a show while I have breakfast. Once I finish eating, I close the tab of the screening platform in my browser and go right on to open my work e-mail. Sometimes I stay in front of the screen almost all day.
Since March 2020, I can only spend a few hours per week in the lab, working on the research for my PhD thesis. The rest of my day, I mostly write on my thesis, of course, on the computer. In the afternoon, I may switch over to Skype to call friends or family. Other days I just open a different Word document at the end of the working day, to spend time on my side job as a writer. In the evening, I exchange the 15“ screen for a 42”, when I watch a movie with my boyfriend.
I cannot imagine what it must be like for people who work solely from home.
This cannot be healthy. The most time I spend away from a screen, while I am awake, is when I go for a walk, which I do almost daily right now. Other than that, I even do my workouts with YouTube videos and have most of my social contacts online, except with my boyfriend.
Most of my life almost exclusively happens in my apartment right now, and it is starting to be quite irritating. I am glad that I can still go to the lab for a few hours during the week. I cannot imagine what it must be like for people who work solely from home.
I was having a particularly intense period in the past weeks, as I was preparing for an assessment centre, held by a possible future employer. Now, I have more time at hand and want to spend as much of it outside as possible.
Katrin Heidemeyer kwam in 2014 naar Wageningen voor haar master. Zij is nu bezig met promotieonderzoek bij Biochemie. Katrin komt oorspronkelijk uit Duitsland.