[ The world gave us cell phones. Specifically, cell phones with internet, and even more specifically, cell phones with internet connection and a tiny Blackberry screen that you can take wherever you desire. ]

[Past the times of a decentralised web world, the soon monoliths of social media has already implanted itself in my life at the age of 11, and if we were to count more multiplayer online games, I’d even say it’d started at the age of 9. ]

[Having access to anyone in the world was a wonder and it expanded my reach of the world. This new technology has become my new medium, and through it I’ve faced innumerable amounts of experiences that the world will not see the results of for years to come. My view of the world slowly expanded itself to accept more of this worldwide phenomenon that went beyond television.]

[It was interaction, and with it, on 20 person forum boards upgrading to the newest, most freeing social media, Twitter, did I meet a group of people who I have not separated from for close to 6 years.]

[If kids were masters of the childlike excitement of life, then teenagers were in the midst of grappling with the disenchantment of it. Yet somehow, when I look back to how I spoke to my teenhood friend group back then, I wouldn’t say I regretted any of that angst or imaginative worlds that sprawled through the 150 word maximum messages that populated our circle.]

[Every day felt like a new adventure, like meeting up at a playground but through a virtual space. Their words and comments left me imagining what it would be like if we all shared a room together and lived peacefully with only each other to take care of. My love for life blossomed when put in proximity to those I love and cherish.]

[I shared my fears, my worries, the hidden life that I kept under trauma and hurt. As a minority on the internet, it felt like I could recount my entire life story to those who shared a similar experience to me. With life revolving around the internet at this point, because of all its promises, back then I didn’t realise how much I was sharing myself to the world. But among this small exchange between 6 friends, it only served to build our bond. And as years passed, I talked even more closely with a specific friend, and from there it turned into something more.]

[And it is not until now do I realise how deeply these roots have taken hold, even in this technological space, where we all gushed about our favourite interests at the time, and explicitly shared every strong emotion that coursed through us, that I acknowledge how much of myself I’ve shared to this group of friends. More deeply than I have ever told any other person in my life.]

[Because technology allowed us, as teenage minorities, to inhabit a world that we curated. And technology has, now as a “young” adult, to bring back those moments of enchantment back to my life deliberately.]

[A virtual world builds up a promising moment of enchantment. Of seeing someone again after a long year. Surely, love letters from aspiring poets to their beloved partners in the ages before the internet, before the press, before quick transportation, certainly brought moments of enchantment from their arrival. ]

[Though now a message is instantaneous, it doesn’t replace the growing feeling of longing and excitement. The ever growing expectation that builds imagining the other's face. And this isn’t a sole experience. Searching up ‘Long Distance Reunion’ or ‘Reunions’ brings forth videos upon videos of people experiencing a moment that has been fabricated, yet is still instilled with enchantment.]

Jane Bennet describes enchantment as “a state of wonder,” She continues that “To be enchanted, then, is to participate in a momentarily immobilising encounter; it is to be transfixed, spellbound.”

An invisible border between the real and virtual, and this widening gap creates the perfect circumstance for moments of enchantment to happen. A reunion brings baggage from both sides, and holds a promise that for that very moment, their lives are now physically linked together.

During the summer of 2021, the gap between reality had shifted. It feels different, when the modes of transportation have changed and the requirements have shifted so much that to drive only 2 hours away requires an immense amount of planning. At that point, it had been 18 months since we'd last seen each other.

The beginning of 2021 was a tumultuous time for me. My mind and heart was driven to complete exhaustion, requiring me to mentally rest for 4 months before I began to feel capable of handling my day to day life again. It was a period of constant panic and existential worry. I had no idea what I was doing. I felt like the only person in the world.

Jane bennet believes that “presumptive generosity, as well as the will to social justice, are sustained by periodic bouts of being enamoured with existence, and that it is too hard to love a disenchanted world.” I was completely disenchanted by the world in this period. Going outside was difficult for me, and holding onto my sister brought me so much grief and tears. It felt like I was learning to love the world again, even at its current and whatever future state it will look like.

So when my birthday came around I made the last minute decision to go fly to see my partner who lived only 2 hours from me, but across the, at the time, closed land border. It was a decision made out of desperation and a need to experience a moment of enchantment.

The 3 weeks that I spent with my partner were spent in understanding. It was like we were picking up pieces of ourselves and rebuilding each other. We settled into a small routine of daily chores and tasks. I’d help him with laundry and he’d help me with food. Everything we did was acts of care for each other. Underneath the complicated household that we slept under, there was love and kindness present. I felt my call to nurture and to heal, to slowly bring my partner alongside me on this journey. And with these acts of care, I saw the world in full again. I am aware of the constant atrocities that happen daily, weekly, monthly. I am aware of the uncertain future that will displace many more people to come. But during this small period of care and love, I realised how much I loved the world. And if I am to subscribe to this love, I want to reciprocate it back.

After my trip, I re-assessed my boundaries again. I was previously aware of social justice movements, but now, feeling more grounded and aware, I realise that this isn’t only a call just for me to solve, that everything is on my shoulders and is my burden to bear. I fell into a routine of helping redistribute materials in the DTES on a monthly basis. I feel excited doing this work, because searching and trying to find the best deals for bulk materials is something that comes easily to me. and seeing this distro become more and more successful each month with their drives, and then expanding to meet more people's needs makes me even more excited for the months to come. I feel like I'm watching a tree grow, slowly and slowly with every month. Not to mention, this has the other benefit that it makes me want to continue my life and even though I must participate in capitalism by gaining a job, I feel more inclined to work in it knowing that I am both saving money to see my partner again as well as having more to give towards the distro. It is a butterfly effect that gives me purpose and drive again.

The common disenchantment tale that Jane Bennett describes goes as follows “There was once a time when Nature was purposive, God was active in the details of human affairs, human and other creatures were defined by a preexisting web of relations, social life was characterised by face-to-face relations, and political order took the form of organic community. Then, this premodern world gave way to forces of scientific and instrumental rationality, secularism, individual- ism, and the bureaucratic state—all of which, combined, disenchant the world”

One of these “pervasive” modern marvels is the computer and by extension the internet. It killed face-to-face contact and by extension, should’ve eradicated this world filled with enchantment. I argue that this is incorrect, as while the computer and by extension the internet does have its uses in the disenchanting narrative, it has also created chat spaces where one can tumble into a conversation with someone they’d never think of talking to. Even decades after the internet’s release, there are still places of enchantment that happen here. A communication with people that share your same interests, a manner of congregating. I am not claiming the internet as a perfect tool that facilitates communities, but there is no denying that it does have a power to be used as so. It is such a strong power that algorithms and big companies want to use it and manipulate it. Why would they need to if it didn't have that strong of a power?