The void offers an option to cut out commute time. When entering, I can choose to take my normal commute, and the void will simulate driving, walking, or whatever however I want to get to work, or I am able to avoid a commute altogether and immediately teleport straight to my school or any other place I want to go. This is one really good thing about the void. I feel like I am living in the normal world, but with fewer limitations. For example, I’m still able to work in the school with the kids, but I can easily take out my earbuds for a lunch break at home with my husband. Today, I am running late so I enter the void straight at my school. I say aloud “enter at work.” Then I am transported straight into the void at the front door of the school I teach at. Once I am in the void, I can freely move around just like I would in my normal life. I walk through the front doors of the school and greet my fellow teachers. I then walk down the hallway and enter my classroom. Students populate one by one into the classroom as they enter the void from their homes.
After the school day is over, I stand in the hallway and chat with my workmates. After work we plan to grab some drinks in the void. Although physically drinking is impossible in the void, it is able to simulate the feeling of drinking. So, although you gain no nutritional benefits from eating or drinking in the void, you can still go out and socialize. Some of my friends have even met new people in the void. Because you must present as yourself in the void, no catfishing can happen.
After drinks, I log out of the void and I am pleasantly surprised to see my husband has also logged off. Although I think that the void offers great opportunities for staying safe in difficult times, I also think it can leave me feeling really isolated. Because the void is so physically individual, people are much less interactive in the physical world.
The void has changed my life immensely, but it hasn’t been a perfect way to cut time in person. We still have to go to the stores in the physical world because there is no way to take something out of the void. It's also hard for some jobs to be translated online. Blue collar jobs are almost impossible to be done virtually, so there is an increasingly growing divide between the classes. I’m so thankful for the void, but I also miss life from before, when interactions were much simpler.
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