A story from Amanda Sanders’ Instagram account @amandaasanderss.
Open your phone and log onto Instagram. I guarantee that someone you follow has posted a photo of a badly drawn carrot, or a video of them doing ten push-ups and kicking a roll of that hot, new luxury item: toilet paper. I’m guilty of rolling my eyes and scrolling past or even muting people who post ten stories in a row trying to get that perfect carrot or pushup video, but despite my cynicism, if you checked my Instagram Story last week (@amandaasanderss what’s good), you would have spotted a photo of me smiling on top of a cliff with a copy and paste message urging others to “spread positivity” after being tagged by a friend in her own Instagram Story.
So why, despite my eye-rolls, did I join in? Because life right now looks pretty bleak. Colleges across the country are closed, internships are disappearing and people are losing jobs right and left. There are over one million cases of COVID-19 worldwide and the number keeps rising. Like Americans in 42 out of 50 states, I am confined to my house and bored out of my skull. So maybe taking the time to find a happy picture of myself and tagging five friends makes me feel slightly more connected to the world around me which I feel farther away from than ever. The stock market is crashing, and we’re running out of ventilators. I would love to see someone post another cute picture of their dog right now as a respite from being inundated with the often depressing news cycle. Viral challenges have become a way to distract ourselves (and in the case of the push-up challenge: an opportunity to get into shape). When I asked Sohan Mewada ‘22 why he did the push-up challenge, he said, “I was challenged by a couple of friends and I was bored, so thought it would be fun to do it while in quarantine… I probably would have done it even if I wasn’t in quarantine but I don’t think these challenges would be as prevalent then.” In the past, internet challenges such as the 2014 ALS ice bucket challenge have spread during slower times, usually in the summer when people have less going on. It may not be summer, but it is true that we certainly have less to do right now as we stay at home to flatten the COVID-19 curve.
Other social media challenges work to promote positive attitudes while we socially distance from friends and family. One such example is the 24-hour positivity challenge where mainly women post happy photos of themselves to their stories and tag other women to share self-love in times where many feel alone. “I did it [the positivity post] because I thought it promoted female-empowerment and self-love,” said Jozette Moses ‘21. “I was tagged in two of them and before I was tagged, my sister had been tagged. I am not someone who likes to post challenges online, I’m not even someone who likes to post on social media, but I thought it was about empowerment and self-love and self-care during a time where people are spending a lot of time on self-reflection.” Mental health is suffering as the epidemic creates anxiety and stress for many watching the news or others who have lost their job due to the crisis. Self-isolation can impair our mental well-being as we stay away from loved ones and our therapists cancel in-person appointments. Scrolling through Instagram isn’t a perfect fix, but learning a new TikTok dance could certainly distract you for a solid five minutes.
These challenges are often intended to promote people to stay home to help flatten the curve of infection. The toilet paper soccer challenge was initially done by professional soccer players like Marcus Rashford, Christian Pulisic, and Harry Winks as a “stay at home” challenge. The toilet paper was used to grab attention and it worked; the trend spread rapidly as people all over posted videos of themselves at home kicking around toilet paper. “What else do I have to do?” said Lloyd Cleary ‘22 after uploading his own video to his Instagram Story.
In a time when practicing social distancing makes one feel alone, videos of friends doing monotonous and mundane things can help make people feel as though they know a shred more about what is going on in one another’s lives. These challenges are centered around things that anyone can do in their own homes, making them relatable in a time where we are looking for new ways to connect. Social media was created to bring people together and we need it now more than ever. Ignore those rolling their eyes. Post your dance video on TikTok. Share your whipped coffee. Put up throwbacks to happier times where you’re smiling or countdowns to when you’re back on Conn’s campus. If drawing a carrot or leaving up a goofy post “until tomorrow” makes you feel slightly better about the state of the world right now, go for it. Don’t worry about others judging you — by the time we’re out of this quarantine, no one will even remember. It is time to post with abandon (but only if you’re posting yourself social distancing). •
