Strategies for collaborating and community building are being put to the test as never before. Social distancing and remote work mean that we have few opportunities for the in-person, face-to-face connections that are usually so key to building friendships and trust. Tech platforms with e-conferencing, e-meetings, and e-engagement can help, but tech alone isn’t the solution. Often, tech can isolate people as much as it can bring them together.

At work, in neighborhoods, in voluntary groups, and in families, people are experimenting with both new and old techniques for building relationships far beyond the easy “Like” or “Follow” buttons. Video calling has moved quickly from a simplistic replacement for the phone to a technology that can support much, much more in the hands of imaginative and creative leaders. I’m “Zooming,” “Teaming,” and “E-conferencing” regularly with colleagues all over the world, far more frequently and productively than before the start of the pandemic. I’m in large groups and small ones, and in formal conferences and informal working meetings.

It’s too soon to say which strategies, much less which technologies, will work or won’t over the long run. We don’t know yet which strategies will lead to durable communities and which will lead to briefer, more fragile collaborations. But it is clear that we’re experiencing a permanent shift away from our long dependence on face-to-face relationship building toward something else.