{"id":163,"date":"2021-04-12T15:45:44","date_gmt":"2021-04-12T20:45:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/weswong.com\/WongoTech\/?p=163"},"modified":"2021-04-13T09:30:12","modified_gmt":"2021-04-13T14:30:12","slug":"phygital-distancing-not-social-distancing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/weswong.com\/WongoTech\/phygital-distancing-not-social-distancing\/","title":{"rendered":"Phygital Distancing, not Social Distancing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It\u2019s been 13 months since the WHO officially declared the global outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19<\/strong>) as a pandemic<\/span><\/em><\/strong>. Since then, billions have WOKE <\/strong>up to this new normal. Those in the West have joined their counterparts in the East to don a mask, maybe even double masks, wash their hands longer and more often, and walking around with a virtual 2m pole to distance from others. Alas, there are those who have yet to embrace the 4 W<\/em><\/strong>\u2019s<\/span> of hygiene: W<\/span><\/em><\/strong>ear a mask, W<\/span><\/em><\/strong>ash your hands, W<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong>atch your distance, W<\/span><\/em><\/strong>ear another mask over the other mask. And don\u2019t forget the VV<\/span><\/em><\/strong>: two doses of V<\/span><\/em><\/strong>accines (unless it\u2019s the J<\/span><\/strong>&J<\/span><\/strong>, then just one J<\/span><\/strong>ab).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to terms such as pivot<\/span><\/em>, unprecedented<\/span><\/em>, fatigue<\/span><\/em>, and efficacy<\/span><\/em>, the phrase \u201csocial distancing<\/span><\/em>\u201d was popularized by public health officials. The medical notion of \u201csocial distancing\u201d is to maintain a safe or appropriate distance from other people with the intent to mitigate the spread of contagion. From a sociology perspective, \u201csocial distancing\u201d is the extent to which people or groups of people are removed from one another\u2019s lives, socially, relationally, not necessarily physically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This phrase is still vogue 13 months later, although prudent people have resorted to the phrase \u201cphysical<\/em><\/span><\/strong> distancing<\/span><\/em>.\u201d Incidentally, soon after declaring the pandemic<\/span><\/em><\/strong>, the WHO <\/a>tried to ditch the phrase \u201csocial distancing<\/span><\/em>” and to pitch “physical distancing<\/span><\/em>.” In its updated post<\/a>, the CDC indicates that social distancing is also called \u201cphysical distancing<\/em>\u201d meaning to maintain \u201ca safe space between yourself and other people who are not from your household.\u201d We are not to just stay at arm\u2019s length but at least TWO<\/strong> arms\u2019 length away. Canada\u2019s public health shares the same refrain<\/a>: \u201cwe can slow the spread of COVID-19 by making a conscious effort to keep a physical distance between each other\u201d which has proven to be an effective way to slow the spread<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At its core, \u201csocial distance<\/span>\u201d is the degree of acceptance or rejection of social interaction between people belonging to different social groups such as ethnicity, language and culture. In follow-up posts, I will address social distance in the context of cultural diversity and fluency. FWIW<\/em>, I suggest that we use the correct phrase to stay at a distance, i.e., physical<\/em> distancing<\/span>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, in our highly network-connected world, we can leverage hi-tech<\/span><\/strong> to supplement hi-touch<\/span><\/strong>. Albeit we need to physically<\/em> distance we can still socialize in-person (for short periods) onsite<\/em> at a distance and online<\/em> remotely. We can\u2019t hug but we can wave. We can have face-to-face time, but not cheek-to-cheek.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As we ride out the P<\/span><\/em><\/strong>-waves, let\u2019s not social distance and disengage from others at the social level. Rather let\u2019s spur one another toward love and good deeds, encourage one another and not give up meeting \u2026 be it physically<\/em> <\/span>at a distance or phygitally<\/span><\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been 13 months since the WHO officially declared the global outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) as a pandemic. Since then, billions have WOKE up to this new normal. Those in the West have joined their counterparts in the East to don a mask, maybe even double masks, wash their hands longer and more… Continue reading Phygital Distancing, not Social Distancing<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-163","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog-post","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/weswong.com\/WongoTech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/weswong.com\/WongoTech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/weswong.com\/WongoTech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/weswong.com\/WongoTech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/weswong.com\/WongoTech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=163"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/weswong.com\/WongoTech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":173,"href":"http:\/\/weswong.com\/WongoTech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163\/revisions\/173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/weswong.com\/WongoTech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/weswong.com\/WongoTech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/weswong.com\/WongoTech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}