“Giving turmeric smoke around the corners of the house is a sure way to end pandemic”, one post states, and now my mother does that in the home every evening. Social Media hits people differently, some see it as a freedom from their boredom during the lockdown, or some see it as a source of ways for ending or controlling the COVD-19.
So, when you are home, bored of not going outside, and you open social media, you see various types of posts during the lockdown, sometimes funny, sometimes informatory, or sometimes even nostalgic.
Ramadan Day#
In Pakistan, the lockdown has also included the holy month of Ramadan in it. So, people like to post pictures of Islamic quotes relating to the holy month. These quotes usually consist of various hadiths, or people own promises to themselves that what they want to do to, under the caption “Ramadan Day# no”.
#FortheFirstTime
60% of the people work in Pakistan, so on normal days, they do not have time to cook food or even post pictures of it. So, now when they are home, they try to keep themselves busy and for that, they cook food. Many of them are learning to cook food, and post pictures with captions “For the first time”, or “Cooking session 1 Episode 1”. But many of them are experienced and post their food pictures with captions “My Iftar dish today”.
TikTokers
The Pandemic has badly hit some of the people because of no work. Many of the economically sound people are helping the needy and post the pictures of this act. On the contrary, a significant trend that moved against the former one is the people asking the economically sound people not to post pictures of their charity “because the needy people also have self-respect” in which the videos of tiktokers play a significant role.
#throwback #tb
Because of the Quarantine, people are unable to go to parties, their favorite places, or even hang out with friends, so they post their past pictures normally with the titles “throwback to normal days, a throwback to the days when we all were together.” This shows their longing for the good normal days to come and a kind of thanking attitude for all the happiness in the past.
The Wise Professor
“Breaking: Professor of Biology delivers one-hour lecture with audio on mute”. Because of the lockdown, the normal routine life is disturbed, and all the educational institutions are temporarily closed. To deal with it, the government has announced an online class system,
The Suggestive Ones
People also like to post pictures and videos about the ongoing Pandemic situation. Many post informatory videos regarding the control of COVD-19, and also give suggestions for its eradication. The suggestion is sometimes Islamic like prayer for ending pandemic, and sometimes funny like, “jaisy har chamakti cheez sona nahi hoti, wesay hi har cheenkh (sneeze) corona nahi hoti”.
The Lockdown After Shocks
During the lockdown, many people are turning to social media to end their nostalgia. They upload posts where they share their desires that after the lockdown is over, they would go to a specific restaurant and would eat specific food and would go to their friends’ home to enjoy.
Government Cabinet
Another prominent social media trend that has become popular is the people electing their own government. People elect themselves as Prime Minister in “My government” and then electing the names of the people they would like to keep in their cabinet. This seems like an interesting trend to be followed during the lockdown because people can catch up with their friends and family by remembering their traits and then giving them specific posts according to their traits.
Social media trends keep on changing with time, they are different during the lockdown and will be different when the lockdown is over, but what matters is the people’s interest to keep following them, and uploading posts about them.
