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Social Media: Helping Kit to Fight Corona Virus

Coronavirus is known as Covid-19 that is spreading across the world like a wildfire, currently has no bounds. People in the whole world are petrified that they might catch the disease and eventually die. Now, the thing that leads to people having such inexplicit thinking is, as a matter of fact, social media. Social media, in the past month, has proved to be one of the biggest grounds through which people are being misled into thinking bizarre conditions. 5G networks spread Coronavirus, you cannot have coronavirus if you can hold your breath for 10 minutes, drinking alcohol prevents you from having the disease, people living in places that have high temperature will not catch the virus, mosquito bites lead to coronavirus are some of the many rumors or myths as you may say that were and are being circulated via social media platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, etc. Now, let us move on to discuss how social media can help to combat against coronavirus.

To avoid turmoil in society, social media itself is the only way to educate people instead of misleading them. Like the saying goes “Diamond cuts Diamond” in the same way social media can overcome the dubiety it has created by providing people with the absolute certitude about the precautions that the people need to take. Instead of making posts that have no attestation, people can write actual matter that holds certain importance and veracity. Social Media can help combat coronavirus if they appraise the society of the do’s and don’ts in this critical situation. Platforms like Facebook and WhatsApp have provided people with information hubs where the users can receive up-to-date information regarding Covid-19 and can save themselves from being a part of the affected lot. Instagram has continuously been promoting social distancing and self-isolation by rolling out stickers of “Stay Home”. 

In such crazy times of lockdown in the whole nation and beyond, what people crave most is the closeness of their loved ones. Applications like Google Duo, Skype, FaceTime et cetera have really comforted people by providing a video call feature through which people feel a little close to their family and friends. They are in constant contact with their relatives which is a big relief to everyone. Users of WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram have been pretty enthusiastic during this lockdown considering they never fail to miss a single challenge related to food, beauty, fashion, dance, and many other activities, is great in every sense as it is not only helping people come out of boredom but also encouraging them to find their hidden talents. It’s an amazing pass time for people and has been distracting them from constantly thinking about the pandemic.

In this crucial circumstances, there is a major percentage of people who have been perturbing about the virus and have been going a mile extra in taking precautions, which is a good thing except they are straining themselves that is leading to anxiety-induced hypertension and psychosis. Now, what role social media can play here is that people can write positive messages and information that will give some peace to the people who are agitated due to the fear of the disease. Mental health is an indispensable area of concern these days. We need to make sure that in times of adversity, the citizenry is mentally prepared to go through whatever conditions may come forth. 

Following mental health is physical health. As people must have already observed, there are various celebrities, gym trainers and yoga instructors who have been constantly posting their exercise routines on platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter et cetera and encouraging the audience to follow their regime which will help them in staying healthy and brawny so that they’re immune system is strong enough to fight against the virus. These personalities are doing a great job of briefing people about their physical health. 

A very famous art called memetics has been blowing up the internet lately. After the news of the occurrence of Coronavirus people started panic buying. One of the main products that were bought in a huge quantity was toilet paper. Now instead of making memes about this, content creators should have spread awareness about how panic buying would never help the situation, in fact, it would worsen it. There were millions of memes related to toilet papers that went viral a few days back but not one post that actually could have educated people on doing the right thing. If people become aware now and start creating content that spreads knowledge among the crowd, it would be of great help to the world.

Social media platforms themselves are finding ways to offer authoritative information. Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Pinterest have partnered with groups like the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) and WHO to highlight resources from the organizations when users search for content about the coronavirus. Pinterest is blocking all coronavirus content that doesn’t come from internationally recognized health groups. YouTube launched a COVID-19 news shelf on its homepage in 16 countries to better highlight key news on the crisis.

All things considered, social media can combat the coronavirus pandemic if given a bit of attention to its content. Social media can have both good and bad effect on its audience, it’s for us to decide which way we choose. Even if we read something related to the disease on an application, it’s our duty to cross-check with a doctor or consult an article that holds much more veracity than the posts that are uploaded on social media without thinking twice what effect it might have on the people reading it. 

All the doctors and police officials are out of their houses so that we can stay safe inside ours, it’s a humble request to everyone to respect those at work and appreciate them and keep yourselves safe because nothing is more precious than life itself. If they can risk theirs for you then you can at least care for yours and stay home and be aware of the conditions around you.

Written by
Tanishka Srivastava
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