The form of protest also evolved at this time, where people protested the killing of Floyd through social media, with posts and hashtags. During lockdown, since everyone directed their attention to politics and the media, it was inevitable that such deep-rooted social issues would have a larger impact. Although these issues have been prevalent over the years, covid had a huge impact on how large the response became this time. It drew attention to the Black Lives Matter Movement, which attracted so much global attention it didn’t before. The tragedy was all over social media and it began a global outrage against police brutality and racism. As the most prevalent example, the tragic killing of George Floyd triggered mass protests globally. This is a blessing as over the past few years, except for the 2016 US election and a few more groundbreaking events, politics hasn’t been at the forefront of social media it was mostly used for entertainment purposes. Awareness of political and social problems became much more widespread as social media influencers were held accountable to post and share about such topics. Since we couldn’t control our own lives due to the pandemic, we chose to tackle the larger issues. We all had such large amounts of time in our hands that investing that time in such issues was inevitable. As US politics dominated social media, we all became involved in such matters and a lot of people developed more interest in politics and social justice. Learning and Educating Through Social Mediaĭuring 2020, as we were all getting over the shock of this unprecedented event, politically uninterested people became much more immersed in politics and other social issues such as racial and gender inequality. However, lockdown left us to face our issues and face the current, corrupt state of our world. We had the illusion that all was good, that if we ignored our problems they would vanish or magically get fixed. As covid came as a sudden shock, it taught us to expect the unexpected. The time before covid, everyone was much more immersed in their own world, whether it was their daily lives or their social media. So, I believe covid has been a blessing in disguise, a reality check. Social media became the number one source of information for us and we got to explore a wide range of topics. Since we turned to others during such an isolated period, everyone became much more connected than they were before, all thanks to the pandemic.
Through social media, or what we call the “second modernity” (Christiansen, 2012), I observed lots of people becoming more interested in these subjects I’ve been passionate about for years. I’ve always loved to spend alone time, just immersing myself in the world of Astrology or spirituality but lockdown was truly a blessing as I finally had all the time I need to do so. But what did happen was that I finally had time for myself, my dreams, my hobbies.Īs a spiritually inclined person, I spent my lockdown reading and learning about spiritual teachings along with other self-help topics such as mindfulness or psychology related matters.
It comes as no surprise when I say I didn’t get to live through this moment in my life, all because of COVID-19. It’s when you make amends and properly end this long, intense chapter in your life. I’ve always observed how seniors would celebrate this turning point: they’d come to school dressed in silly outfits, they’d sit and chat with all of their teachers, sharing their favorite memories. It’s supposed to be a very exciting time where we all receive our university acceptances, get into our dream schools, start a whole new life while ending our high school careers in a nostalgic, fun, bitter-sweet manner. I’d dream about it when I was younger: I’d have a huge friend group, we would all be preparing for our final International Baccalaureate exams, we’d reach the peak of our high school careers and leave it at a beautiful point. I am quite nostalgic and emotional when it comes to turning points in my life and the final year of high school was about to be one of these moments. As someone who was a senior in high school when COVID-19 first hit, it was a blessing and a curse.