In the beginning of 2020, covid was news for everyone. We were thrown into a pandemic out of nowhere. It’s no news for anyone that most people were extremely harmed by the COVID-19 pandemic. We had different phases during this crisis, in the beginning the majority of people were extremely scared of the new virus, which prevented them from leaving their houses at any possible time. Later on there were times where we were in lockdown, but things were opening slowly. During lockdown and covid quarantine, a lot of people were very bored of staying home. In consequence, most teens ended up entertaining themselves with social media.
When the pandemic started there was a new social media being used by the general public: Tiktok. This latest social media was already known but not used by many people. However, by the impact of COVID-19, this platform grew 85.3 % in the United States. Monthly active user accounts on Tiktok were in the millions when it initially appeared on social media, however, since November 2018, they have climbed from 680 million active monthly users to over 1.1 billion monthly active users in 2021. In 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic started, the platform drove more than 315 million downloads worldwide. When the world was in lockdown, individuals turned to social media trends to keep them occupied at home, which was excellent for Tiktok.
Another social media platform, Instagram, was also big during the quarantine. According to Jeremy Tyler, a psychiatrist specializing in anxiety “Social media perpetuates the idea that perfectionism is possible and supports the issue of confirmation bias.” “People see other users who appear to be perfect, who are well liked, or who have things they may not, and they start to believe some of the negative perceptions about themselves.” During the pandemic, most people were extremely anxious and depressed because they were scared of the new disease, and missed types of social interaction. In consequence, people wanted to see perfection in some place, and that’s a big reason why people used Instagram, to pretend everything was okay.
A large number of people were unable to see relatives or friends at the start of the lockdown. All social engagements were canceled immediately. Many people felt more alone than ever in the middle of all the stress and chaos. So, in an effort to feel connected and part of a community, people resorted to social media. Social media evolved into a haven where users could publish genuine, relatable content and build virtual connections when meeting up in person wasn’t a possibility. As a consequence, all social media apps had a gigantic growth during Covid-19.
EAC PRESS 