{"id":2520,"date":"2020-04-21T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-04-21T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.designswarm.com\/blog\/2020\/04\/prisons-or-domes-notes-on-the-role-of-the-home-under-covid-19-852519d8b92e\/"},"modified":"2020-07-14T11:14:08","modified_gmt":"2020-07-14T11:14:08","slug":"prisons-or-domes-notes-on-the-role-of-the-home-under-covid-19-852519d8b92e","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.designswarm.com\/blog\/2020\/04\/prisons-or-domes-notes-on-the-role-of-the-home-under-covid-19-852519d8b92e\/","title":{"rendered":"Prisons or domes? Notes on the role of the home under COVID-19."},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/158817072\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p id=\"709e\" class=\"graf graf--p graf-after--figure\">I wrote a book on <a class=\"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor\" href=\"https:\/\/www.apress.com\/gp\/book\/9781484233627\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-href=\"https:\/\/www.apress.com\/gp\/book\/9781484233627\">the history of technology in the home<\/a> which came out in 2018 and six weeks into my government mandated self-isolation, I\u2019m thinking about what I wrote.<\/p>\n<p id=\"037d\" class=\"graf graf--p graf-after--p\"><strong class=\"markup--strong markup--p-strong\">Home as a space to return to, not exist in.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p id=\"b46d\" class=\"graf graf--p graf-after--p\">Pliny the Elder (A.D. 23\u201379) famously wrote<\/p>\n<blockquote id=\"a54d\" class=\"graf graf--blockquote graf--startsWithSingleQuote graf-after--p\"><p>\u2018One prefers one\u2019s home to all other places. Home is where one is most emotionally attached.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p id=\"559d\" class=\"graf graf--p graf-after--blockquote\">which works if you have something else to compare it to, say the trenches of a Roman camp.<\/p>\n<p id=\"4590\" class=\"graf graf--p graf-after--p\" style=\"text-align: center;\">Home becomes a prison if you are in a relationship with a <a class=\"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/publications\/coronavirus-covid-19-and-domestic-abuse\/coronavirus-covid-19-support-for-victims-of-domestic-abuse\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/publications\/coronavirus-covid-19-and-domestic-abuse\/coronavirus-covid-19-support-for-victims-of-domestic-abuse\">violent partner<\/a> or one <a class=\"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor\" href=\"https:\/\/inews.co.uk\/opinion\/comment\/i-found-10-bottles-of-wine-in-his-room-what-its-like-to-live-with-an-addicted-loved-one-in-lockdown-2544632\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-href=\"https:\/\/inews.co.uk\/opinion\/comment\/i-found-10-bottles-of-wine-in-his-room-what-its-like-to-live-with-an-addicted-loved-one-in-lockdown-2544632\">struggling with an addiction<\/a>. Home can become a series of traps that open themselves up to you as you get older or develop a chronic illness, full of \u2018<a class=\"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor\" href=\"https:\/\/www.independentliving.org\/docs7\/Accessible-cities-consist-barrier-free-housing.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-href=\"https:\/\/www.independentliving.org\/docs7\/Accessible-cities-consist-barrier-free-housing.html\">architectural barriers<\/a>\u2019. Home can be an uncomfortable mirror on your existence if you\u2019re isolated, no matter the age. It can be a place you literally crawl into to <a class=\"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Hikikomori\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Hikikomori\">hide in<\/a>. Home is the place you return to after a day of having fun, socialising. Home is full of memories of a loved one <a class=\"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor\" href=\"https:\/\/whatsyourgrief.com\/death-at-home\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-href=\"https:\/\/whatsyourgrief.com\/death-at-home\/\">you lost<\/a>, perhaps very recently.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Ai0MVYzGC4w\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/142997373?color=C8E3E2&amp;portrait=0&amp;badge=0\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong class=\"markup--strong markup--p-strong\">Home is not a permanent place<\/strong><\/p>\n<figure><figcaption><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure><figcaption><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p id=\"3449\" class=\"graf graf--p graf-after--p\">We have no set geographical constraint for home. It could mean where you were born, where your family is, and where you live, all at once. So \u2018stay home\u2019 could evoke all sorts of images. I heard people flew to Australia at the beginning of the pandemic, because that\u2019s where their parents lived. I know friends who took repatriation flights from much sunnier places so they could be surrounded by their things, or their parents. For some, home is where your medical needs are most likely to be catered to.<\/p>\n<p id=\"1a6d\" class=\"graf graf--p graf-after--p\"><strong class=\"markup--strong markup--p-strong\">Home is a commercial dream<\/strong><\/p>\n<p id=\"c359\" class=\"graf graf--p graf-after--p\">Staying in is supposed to be fun, relaxing, natural. The image of \u2018<a class=\"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Homo_Ludens\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Homo_Ludens\">Homo Ludens<\/a>\u2019 is linked to images of the home. On a couch, <a class=\"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/nofacenina\/status\/1138549153\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/nofacenina\/status\/1138549153\">Netflix and chill<\/a>. Or hovering in space doing the same.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"giphy-embed\" src=\"https:\/\/giphy.com\/embed\/HSLbIjLk2GsBa\" width=\"480\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p id=\"75df\" class=\"graf graf--p graf-after--figure\">For women the pressure is immense. No matter how many pets and other humans you\u2019re living with, your home should be pristine. Your baking efforts award-worthy. The dishes always done after every meal. Your fashion choices casual even (<a class=\"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/B_DDJMjhZLq\/?igshid=1b9ph50zb0ln8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/B_DDJMjhZLq\/?igshid=1b9ph50zb0ln8\">pyjama<\/a>) chic. The wine you\u2019re having should be organic. Your larder, well-stocked\u00a0.Your food box delivery, local. Your children should be fed home-made food, well-educated, paying attention to their teacher on Zoom. You should have the energy to give them what they need right now, even deny them what they want. You have an ironclad will to protect your family from what they want. You are a hero. You are managing to work from home too. You are productive. You are fine.<\/p>\n<p id=\"2eee\" class=\"graf graf--p graf-after--p\"><strong class=\"markup--strong markup--p-strong\">Home is a dome<\/strong><\/p>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn-images-1.medium.com\/max\/800\/1*vXj-zkO3YG_Jk9aXyiivAA.jpeg\" alt=\"\" \/><figcaption><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p id=\"f756\" class=\"graf graf--p graf-after--figure\">Finally, maybe your home is the only protection again the invisible elements. The dirty masses. The horrors of communal experiences where filth, pestilence and madness happens. Your home is a capsule, is <a class=\"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Dome_over_Manhattan\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Dome_over_Manhattan\">a dome<\/a>, and you are covered. Covered against death, the death of others far away in a hospital with too little PPE. Far away from NHS staff dying. So you move away from the dirty city, order every single thing off the internet, even milk, eggs, newspapers. Like a storm, this will pass because you\u2019re protected. Like the little piggy with the house made of bricks, COVID-19 is a wolf which will not blow your house down. You\u2019ll clean your groceries and anything else that comes from the outside world, you\u2019ll make <a class=\"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/B_PCA3PH5EE\/?igshid=1kab5r7ehdy32\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/B_PCA3PH5EE\/?igshid=1kab5r7ehdy32\">Dettol rich<\/a>, you\u2019ll use bleach for the first time in years. You\u2019ll forget about the single use plastic problem and you\u2019ll use disposable gloves and <a class=\"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor\" href=\"https:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/Health\/single-plastic-gloves-good-idea-coronavirus-problem\/story?id=70018864\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-href=\"https:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/Health\/single-plastic-gloves-good-idea-coronavirus-problem\/story?id=70018864\">dispose of them in the street<\/a>. Because public space is dirty and doesn\u2019t matter right now. Public space is the enemy, full of people you have to keep away from. A place to play the self-distancing dance in and judge people for their inability to measure 1.9m distances correctly. Home is where the only certitude lies, where you can twitch a curtain in comfort.<\/p>\n<p id=\"2d9e\" class=\"graf graf--p graf-after--p\"><strong class=\"markup--strong markup--p-strong\">A Home in the near-future<\/strong><\/p>\n<p id=\"d40a\" class=\"graf graf--p graf-after--p\">All these concepts exist alongside each other, so the future is multiple. It\u2019s as possible for single people to start a baby boom as a result of wild sex parties as it is for many to suffer from deep anguish about other people\u2019s bodies.<\/p>\n<p id=\"9d11\" class=\"graf graf--p graf-after--p\">It\u2019s possible children will embrace social connections but then some might retreat into themselves and not cope.<\/p>\n<p id=\"2bbd\" class=\"graf graf--p graf-after--p\">It\u2019s equally possible our work places will be 25% full at any given time for the next 2 years as it is for some to ignore any advice because they\u2019ll make staff sign healthcare waivers.<\/p>\n<p id=\"87d1\" class=\"graf graf--p graf-after--p\">It\u2019s possible for \u2018I\u2019m staying home tonight\u2019 to imply \u2018I\u2019m ill\u2019.<\/p>\n<p id=\"0747\" class=\"graf graf--p graf-after--p\">It\u2019s equally possible for public transport to be shunned by the paying middle class as it\u2019s possible it will be embraced out of \u2018all in this together\u2019-ness leading to inevitable yearly surges in the disease.<\/p>\n<p id=\"0bc1\" class=\"graf graf--p graf-after--p graf--trailing\">Everything will be experienced by different countries and cities in different ways and rivers of digital ink like mine will attempt to tease out a more likely scenario. <strong class=\"markup--strong markup--p-strong\">Because apart from the word \u2018home\u2019, there is nothing universal about our experience of staying in it, only the cause.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I wrote a book on the history of technology in the home which came out in 2018 and six weeks into my government mandated self-isolation, I\u2019m thinking about what I wrote. Home as a space to return to, not exist in. Pliny the Elder (A.D. 23\u201379) famously wrote \u2018One prefers one\u2019s home to all other&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.designswarm.com\/blog\/2020\/04\/prisons-or-domes-notes-on-the-role-of-the-home-under-covid-19-852519d8b92e\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Prisons or domes? Notes on the role of the home under COVID-19.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2548,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[110,59,87],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-smart-homes","category-thoughts","category-women-in-tech","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.designswarm.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/IMG_6771-scaled.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p41XhY-EE","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.designswarm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2520","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.designswarm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.designswarm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.designswarm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.designswarm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2520"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.designswarm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2520\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2547,"href":"https:\/\/www.designswarm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2520\/revisions\/2547"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.designswarm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.designswarm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.designswarm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.designswarm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}