Coronavirus and Lockdown in the New Age

The decade started off with an unexpected visitor which inadvertently has driven us into our homes to wait out the storm. The 21-day lockdown in several countries may have been the break that students and workers needed in their hectic schedules, however, the death of 95,718 people (at the time) globally is quite the price to pay. Social distancing, working from home, and online classes have allowed for a new lifestyle that grants more time for personal attention, building knowledge, mastering new skills, and media consumption.

The question we ask ourselves is, ‘Where does the quarantine lead me today?’ The self-isolation, quarantines, and government-enforced lockdowns that enable us to prevent the further spread of the virus have been accompanied by media organizations across platforms working ten-fold to provide information and entertainment to the self-isolated and to benefit from the sudden increase in content consumption.

According to the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC), consumption of television content across the country has increased by 40 million between February and March, with viewing time increasing by 70 billion minutes. The Indian television channel, Doordarshan, has revived classics such as Shaktiman, Ramayana, and Mahabharata.

A request to relieve pressure on telecom networks has been made to the Home Ministry amongst a surge in video consumption. Services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video,  YouTube, and Hotstar, have been asked to settle from HD (hi-def) to SD (standard-def) streaming settings.

The global theatrical marketplace has seen the postponed release of several films that were scheduled to be released this year. James Bond’s latest film No Time to Die has been pushed to November, F9 to April 2021 and A Quiet Place 2 which hasn’t been assigned a new release date, are among the many movie releases that have been pushed.

Friends can now synchronize their videos and movies through watch parties via browser extensions such as Netflix Party and YouTube Party, which allows them to chat and watch at the same time. House Party, a social networking service, has gained increased popularity where friends can group video chat and play games like Quick Draw and Ellen-inspired Heads Up on the same interface. Although the cross-platform app has brought out privacy and safety concerns, it helps friends stay connected and busy during quarantine life.

The lockdown follows the recent six-month Internet lockdown in Kashmir, where people were required to stay in homes, follow curfew, and have their communication privileges revoked. Both are in the national interest of India – one to complete the integration of Jammu & Kashmir with India and to fight against cross-border terrorism while the other to halt the dangers of the virus; both to save lives. Here the internet acts as a crucial source of information on the pandemic, providing detailed data coverage of confirmed cases statewide, nationwide, and worldwide.

New age media has allowed the sharing of information and misinformation amongst the public body which has led to encouraging precaution but also encouraging a lack of clarity, anxiety, and panic buying. WhatsApp, in an attempt to tackle the fake news ‘pandemic’, has limited forwarding messages to just one chat. This can be connected back to increased suicides committed due to the fear of infection or being recovered. On April 3rd, an elderly couple from Punjab took their own lives, leaving behind a note claiming the reason to be coronavirus. They showed no symptoms of the virus, however.

The victims of COVID-19 cannot be given proper send-off through funerals as mass graves are being dug to contain the virus among the dead. Mass graves being dug in New York’s Hart Island by prison inmates and mobile refrigerators are among the plans to handle the dead. The economic condition and employment rates are questionable given the current circumstances. Overseas education, visa applications, examinations, travel, etc., have all come to a standstill.

It will take significant time to get life back to normal and the only acceptable practice to be adopted right now should be to compromise by working and studying from home – only until the spread of the virus stops and the elderly do not die prematurely. It’s a small sacrifice that if taken by humanity as a whole can end the lockdown within a week or two as well as take a load off from the doctors and nurses that work around the clock to save lives, risking their own.