Friday the 13th. UofT students get an email that reads:

“Starting on Monday, March 16 and continuing until April 3, all in-person undergraduate and research-stream Masters and Doctoral courses across U of T’s three campuses are cancelled.”

Contrary to the state of the world, I have been seeing many UofT students responding to the cancellation of classes in a quite excited if not happy manner. No more commuting for many students, more time to sleep, less stress, and some post-poned or cancelled tests.

It’s almost as if we’ve received a few free days of March break that elementary schools kids are starting.

Having brunch with my friend on Friday reading that email, we were very surprised. Things just didn’t feel real, and it was just odd that no one really knew what was going to happen.

A few hours after we parted I received a text from her:

This morning I went to say my final goodbye to her as I would not get to see her for the next 6 months. I was not expecting to see all the cars lined up outside of her residence building. I saw people loading boxes and furniture, a large sign from the planet march, friends saying goodbye, and many faces filled with mixed emotions.

The school year has abruptly come to an “end”.

My email inbox has been overflowing with emails from CEOs of various companies and organizations, and professors explaining the current situation and what is going to change/occur from this point on.

An email from Second Cup explained that they will no longer be accepting cash, and there will be no longer be a self-serve station for coffee modifications, and instead the barista will add the cream to your coffee. To minimize human contact and most likely also to keep the company afloat, they are offering a 20% discount on mobile orders.

In terms of UofT, classes are being moved online, office hours for some courses are going to be through email, and tests are going to be on Quercus.

All of this is making me realize how crucial the internet is to our society right now and students in particular. We being social beings, the internet offers us connection, and thus the internet is quite literally our life line right now.

The online world, although is flooding with COVID-19 headlines as new cases are being found rapidly, may actually be the only social institution that is not negatively influenced by this global epidemic.

Scrolling through Instagram, seeing posts on Facebook, and watching videos on YouTube over the last few days I’ve noticed in general, people are still posting funny memes, photos with friends, photos of food they are enjoying, vlogs, etc. Yes, there have been much more awareness and content relating to COVID-19 being uploaded but it hasn’t become dominated solely with that. Regular social media functions have continued and I think this stability reminds us that life continues, and that we as a society cannot just sit and stop everything here because that will have serious long term consequences. I think it reminds us that we still can stay connected as we need to, we still can share our stories and create things, and try to find joy and humour in spite of this saddening, confusing time.

All this is not to say we should be ignoring the heartbreaking events and losses we are experiencing around the world. We absolutely need to realize what the situation of our world is, and like I’ve mentioned the internet is the source for that information.

I believe this connectivity we have is something we should be grateful for.

For students the internet is particularly vital at this time, as schooling is all being moved online. We will need to be carefully reading our emails, and posts on Quercus for the next few weeks to successfully complete our school year and receive the credits that we have been working over the last couple months for.

This does raise concerns such as not everyone having access to great internet connection at their homes, or not every student being comfortable with online learning. Hopefully the connectivity with one another we have online will make this whole process easier as this is the only way we can help one another without having to be in physical contact.

I’ve already had friends tell me their parents won’t let them leave the house, and some who themselves are not wanting to risk going outside. Others are indifferent about what is happening and seem fine going about their lives as usual. However regardless of being confined inside a home or not, it is clear that we will be heavily relying on the internet.

If you’re a fellow student you’re probably also experiencing a weird mix of emotions too. Unsure whether to be happy classes are cancelled or not, whether it’s okay to treat the next few days like a break, whether you should leave residence or walk outside…

We’re all on the same boat right now and maybe the only thing we can do is try our best to support people around us, take care of ourselves, and perhaps place a mobile order from Second Cup.