
At the time, living alone and working remotely as a software engineer in rural Coventry, Conn., the self-described extrovert seized every opportunity for human contact she could get. Gauthier, 30, had been scrolling through old photos and found a screenshot of one of the virtual happy hours she’d had with friends in the early days of Covid restrictions. “I feel more isolated now than I did when friends all took time to chat online at the beginning of the pandemic.”

“Unpopular opinion: I don’t have zoom fatigue and I miss zoom happy hours and game nights,” she wrote. One day last year, Julie Gauthier went on Twitter with a confession to make.
