"Corona-cation"
I’m not sure if that’s a term my mom saw while scrolling on Facebook or if she in fact coined it herself. Either way, I cringe every time she says it and part of me died having to type it out. There is obviously a different way people are going about spending their time practicing “social distancing”. Spending so much time to think and be bored has allowed my mind to wander on multiple different topics (hopefully I can find a way to connect them all together for the sake of this blog post and for your sanity).
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| "Social Media Apps" by Jason Howie |
Social Media and Mental Health
Everyone has a different way of processing stressful situations. Some focus on themselves and others tell Facebook anything and everything. In a time when social media (or technology in general) is really the only form of human contact and communication we have is it smart to get away from it every now and then? I’m not an expert but after reading Manoush Zomorodi’s “Bored and Brilliant” I say yes. I completed 3 out of the seven challenges in this book for class, this includes challenges two, three, and six. Here is a brief explanation of the expectations of each:
Challenge Two- Keep your devices out of reach while in motion
Challenge Three- Photo free day
Challenge Six- Observe something else (focus on something other than a device)
In doing these challenges I realized that they weren’t as hard as I expected them to be. Why is that? Because of the quarantine recommendations and encouraging isolation as an effect of COVID-19, I am left feeling severely more depressed than normal. There are multiple different symptoms from depression, personally, I become very tired. The reason it was so easy for me to complete these “social-distancing from social media” challenges is that I have started sleeping for 15 or more hours each day. It’s been drawn to my attention that we need to focus on mental health just as much as the virus. Considering that globally, more than 264 million people of all ages suffer from depression. Social media is a great way to stay connected but keep in mind that your mind needs a break to be able to process the change. Take time to stop absorbing information and let your mind wander, I’ll explain more about where I let my mind wander to in the next section.
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| Marvel Studios |
Thanos and COVID-19
During this time I am so happy I have Disney Plus. I have been able to watch more movies in the past couple of weeks than since I’m not sure how long. Pretty much watching all the Marvel movies available (Dr. Strange is my favorite and I’ve watched it 3 times in one week). Now the interesting part about me watching these movies at this time when our society is in chaos is that it parallels (kind of). I am stretching it I know but just think about it. In Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame the bad guy known as Thanos had a very good guy goal but his means of carrying it out are twisted. Unlike in comics how Thanos is in love with death, in the movies he's turned into almost an environmentalist. His main goal is to wipe out half of the population of each species in order to preserve the resources within the universe. COVID-19 hopefully won’t be wiping out half the population, but with the death toll rising it’s hard to see the end of this chaos we’re in. When looking at the outcome Thanos was hoping to get we can possibly find a good outcome from this. More and more reports of a positive environmental impact are coming in, but this is more so a result of us humans not being out as much. Another thing I thought of was that Endgame premiered April 26, 2019- very close to an exact year ago. The timing of this is all insane, or maybe it’s just me.
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