How to Reawaken the Senses During COVID | Valerie Chan | TEDxFarmingdale

NOTE FROM TED: This talk only represents the speaker's personal views and understanding of the senses, intuition, and COVID-19; some viewers may be offended by it. We've flagged this talk because it falls outside the content guidelines TED gives TEDx organizers. TEDx events are independently organized by volunteers. The guidelines we give TEDx organizers are described in more detail here: http://storage.ted.com/tedx/manuals/tedx_content_guidelines.pdf

Before March 15 2020, more than 5% of Americans worked from home and many also lived alone. And those who worked remotely said that they were 29% happier than their onsite counterparts. Are remote workers still happier? Thanks to the Pandemic, everyone is remotely working now and a virtual culture has been birthed beyond what we could imagine.

Virtual cocktail hour, virtual exercise, virtual networking events are the norm. However, because we are no longer in the same room with our colleagues, our clients, our co-workers, or our friends, we are losing what human beings require, besides food, water and shelter. That is human contact.

We may feel like we are with people, via zoom, but we have to face the reality that when we log off, we are alone even when we are with our families. The loss of our intuition and emotional intelligence required when we are physically with other human beings will have a direct impact on how we communicate with the world and each other now and in the future.

Emotional Intelligence (EI) determines our ability to manage our feelings and relationships and good social skills are associated with high EI. Self awareness, self regulation, empathy and social skills are completely overlooked in the virtual culture. Now that we have been forced to live full time in a virtual culture, it’s urgent that we not only tune into a virtual meeting, but we tune into ourselves.

In addition to the loss of the personal exchange of energy with another human being, the Global Pandemic of COVID-19 has forced us to sit with ourselves for the first time ever. And this is creating loneliness, unhappiness, and uncertainty in our purpose.

Tuning in has become more important than ever. We are looking at screens in a way that we never had to before.

When we can truly listen to what people are saying, we can read body language and therefore make better decisions. Most importantly this kind of tuning in and trusting our emotional intelligence, we can rely on the comfort of being with ourselves, instead of by ourselves. This is how we adapt to the new virtual culture when we go offline, without losing ourselves. Valerie Chan has been a communications expert for 20+ years helping companies craft their communications with staff, customers, partners and media. Her work is done primarily by listening to clients remotely via phone or video conferencing as she is the head of a virtual communications agency specializing in technology and the legal industry. She is a teaching fellow at the NASDAQ Entrepreneurial Center and is part of the Forbes Agency Counsel. Fun facts: She is a twin and a former collegiate race walker. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

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