Online Like Never Before

Due to our current situation regarding Coronavirus *Cardi B voice* (as if you haven’t heard about it enough, sorry!), the online community has gained a whole new feeling and meaning.

Since we are all basically grounded now for the foreseeable, it is not a surprise that we are all glued to our phones and computers more than ever before. My phone let me know how much my screen time has gone up in the last week and, well, I was disgusted. Just look how much I’ve used Snapchat alone…

My craaazy overuse of social media is down to the fact we’ve suddenly been told to make our own entertainment without stepping outside. Basically every teenage boy’s dream😂. Across the nation, people are online and chatting from the moment they wake up to the moment they go to sleep. And I’m included. I mean, as an English student you would probably think I’d choose to read a book or something…rather than spend literally the whole day on my phone, but this is the 21st century darling! 😉

Apps such as Houseparty have made a huge comeback and are playing a big role in online communication right now. I did some browsing on what other people are saying about Houseparty and this is one of the many articles that came up about the app.

The article explains how Houseparty is helping to keep spirits high during this lonely time, and allows friends and family across the world to communicate in a similar way to Facetime, but in a bigger group. It also highlights that of course it is no way near as good as seeing friends in person, but it is a pretty good alternative for now and a great way to still have a bev or too with your mates on the weekend 🍺. Which as a nation, we all know is high in the priority list. There are loads of games you can play together too, such as ‘Heads Up’ or ‘Guess the Song Lyrics.’

So now that we’re all bored shitless, housebound and only have uni assignments to pass the time, at least Houseparty is one thing we can actually do with our mates.

In these confusing and unsettling times, nothing like any of us have ever experienced before, I feel very grateful every day that I am able to contact pretty much anyone I know via the internet or phone. It puts me at ease knowing I can check that my loved ones are okay, or even just playing them at a crappy game of online pool.

Hours of random Youtube videos and Instagram scrolling have also filled up a few of my days although it is starting to wear thin, and I’m actually getting headaches from staring at my screen for so long. No good when there isn’t any paracetamol in the shops! 😐 It seems I’m not the only one spending all my time online though. In some ways it helps everything feel a bit more normal, whether it’s just having a chat with friends or watching something good on Netflix, just to try and forget the craziness that is our lives right now.

As I’m writing this I’ve just received a notification about some serious news…Netflix is down! We’ve broken the internet guys.

All jokes aside, I think it’s important in these times to value what we still have and the positives of the situation. I don’t know about you but I’ve had more time on my hands to connect with family members and have a nice long chat that I would usually be too busy for. I’ve also found myself chatting to people from school who I haven’t heard from in years. There is a real sense of community online and I think without it right now I would be struggling a lot more. Thank God for the internet!

Let me know in the discussion below if you feel that being online has been comforting for you during these times, and what you think it would be like if we didn’t have this luxury?