What was the main strength of the social media during lockdown? By enabling people to keep in touch through difficult times, their role became essential and their value, undisputable.
Social media may be considered invasive; the young people may be thought of wasting their time on them: this is common thinking – and sometimes, we must admit it is not totally wrong. Social media are accessible to all, and the quality of their online content may vary.
The advantage of social media: the very fact of being social
Social media obviously entertain us, but most of all, they enable us to express ourselves, make ourselves heard, communicate with others, wherever they may be. When we are unable to move or go anywhere – as we were during lockdown, or when we are unwell – social media play an essential role: they maintain our social bond, they make us feel we still belong to society, and they enable us to travel or move virtually.
During lockdown, their entertaining capability was not as important as their ability to help us keep in touch with one another, as revealed by a survey for LinkedIn (France).
Conveying light, funny content as a means of resilience
Communication via social media then had another meaning. As all countries suffered from Covid, social media soothed people, comforted them, enabled them to reduce their stress and anxiety level, fight their feelings of isolation or loneliness, protect their mental health.
Whatever the nation, a good sense of humour definitely helped.
While in Britain it would be the perfect time to create a barrow of speed, or thank the Scottish people for providing their NHS with clothes and equipment:
You would find similar content on the French social media such as:
