Lockdown, due to COVID-19, began in February 2020 and has changed our lives. As we were confined to our homes for several months, we had to find activities to do in order to fill the lack of social life and nightlife. Many of you, but especially those in France, travelled to the countryside, summer houses or stayed at home. Even though the lockdown brought positive aspects into our lives, such as reducing the number of cases or lowering pollution levels in multiple countries. Still, it was not without its struggles, such as people feeling social anxiety or even fatigue. 

Thanks to quarantine, most people caught up on their favourite TV shows and films. However, with the closing of the movie theatres, the movie industry is growing weaker. In fact, it has been dethroned by streaming sites, like Netflix. 

Social media has also played an extensive role in our lockdown entertainment, hours can be spent scrolling through Tik Tok, Instagram, Twitter and even Facebook. The question is, are you bored yet? Bored of sitting in your couch or lying on your bed scrolling, watching and scrolling again? If your answer is yes, you might be experiencing ‘media fatigue’. 

Amandeep Dhir defines ‘media fatigue‘ as “people by compulsively using their phone -when they think they have nothing else to do-  [and] are afraid of missing out a trend or information”. It seems that it can give anyone from teenagers to elderly people anxiety and depression. News networks are preoccupied with the virus and people are tired of it! So people fall into the tricky situation of being bored, watching films or scrolling through their phones and feeling unfilled because they can’t go and do anything, but also not having the motivation either way. 

You might have noticed that your attention span has reduced over lockdown. We are not robots, and our brains need stimulation, more stimulation than just planning activities around your house can provide. Taking this into account, people have rediscovered the pleasure of working out at home, drawing, learning a new language, reading or listening to podcasts. Still engaging with all this content and being overwhelmed by social media campaigns and lockdown trends might have had a bigger impact on your ability to concentrate and appreciate film and television than your aware. 

In a nutshell, social media fatigue is real and still follows us to this day. We may find it more difficult to stay focused on a task as are lacking social contact and variation in our days. In the meantime, some people, particularly the most vulnerable need time to adapt again to social life. Yet, we are still alive and should enjoy the present moment and life that awaits us.

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