Parallel Play: Connection?During and Beyond the Pandemic?

When my boys were little, I eagerly looked forward to the stage of development where they were interested in “parallel play.” Essentially this meant I could plop them down next to another child around their age, and they both would sit there chewing, squishing, or throwing their own toy at the same time as another kid. When you have been 100% the provider of almost all experiences for that child up until that stage, it feels exciting – with the bonus of another parent there to interact with and at least one hand free to hold a beverage.

There is no question we are in new territory when it comes to our own learning, connection and engagement during this time of quarantine. I recently blogged about my Peloton (I can hear my coworkers groan “more Peloton? Really?”). But one of the coolest features has turned out to be the “video chat” function. My significant other lives 700 miles away, and our ability to get up early (points to him for getting up an hour even earlier due to the time change) and see each other as we pant through the same class has created something for us to do “together” each day.

And there are many other new services that are allowing us to be together…but alone. Some examples include:

•   Netflix Party: You can download the Netflix Party extension for Chrome (this article gives a great overview) so that a group of friends can all start watching the same movie or show – with a chat room – at the same time.
•   Instagram: Last week, Instagram unveiled several new updates to help people stay connected throughout the COVID-19 crisis, including the addition of a new Co-Watching feature which enables users to view posts together while they are video chatting.
•   Houseparty: This app has expanded its reach exponentially, as it sees your friends on other social networks – like Facebook or Snapchat –and make you aware that your friends have signed up, so once you sign up you quickly know who is already using it and vice versa. Once there, you can pop in on any of your friends online and challenge them to games geared towards groups of people. Most of the games are ones you probably have in your game closet or phone apps, but at this point, it is both fun and prudent to critique the Heads Up play of someone that you haven’t spent the last 40 days with, as a purely hypothetical example.

Now that we are increasingly comfortable with this kind of thing, what are the potential impacts on associations?

•   From walks to (virtual) tours: This past weekend, one of my friends did a “Tour de Peloton”, riding for three hours and asking for people to contribute for each mile she rode. One of our fantastic client partners, RESOLVE, launched Infertility Awareness Week with a scheduled Peloton ride, asking everyone to change their location to #infertilityawareness. I participated and it was really neat to see how many people of the 2,000 riding during that time were part of the RESOLVE community. I was alone, in my basement, and truly felt part of something bigger.
•   Parallel learning: I think a huge value-add for associations will be to let other people know if others within their contacts or online communities are also taking the same virtual class, working towards a credential, etc. We have done some initial research with some our MCI USA’s technology partners to see how this can be implemented, but perhaps the first step is encouraging leaders to actively share their goals –such as posting “who will join me in becoming certified in the next 60 days?” to create accountability and connection.
•   Co-watching: Now that all of that archived content is getting new interest from our members looking for opportunities for continuing education, associations can create opportunities for co-watching, possibly streaming via a shared site with a chat room, similar to the Netflix model above.

And of course, the same kids that sat on a mat happily gumming stacking rings are now leading the way on all this stuff in my house. One teen plays a game with two kids in his headset and one chiming in via Facetime. Another will (ironically) make us all go to separate rooms so we can compete in trivia contests against other families. We have all had more Zoom happy hours over the past four weeks than possibly real happy hours over the past year…or even decade. I don’t think these tools will all go away – instead, we are creating an expectation that people want to know when someone else is engaging in the same activity, at the same time. I am signed up for a class on how to translate data into powerful imagery later this week – I got the referral from a colleague, and I got two other people to participate with me. We won’t be in the same place, but it is nice to be in it, together.

Erin Fuller is the president of MCI USA Association Solutions, and the recognized champion of all trivia games within her house. It isn't bragging if it is true.