Why has gaming seen a massive increase while social media hasn't budged? | Source: Lenka Horavova, Shutterstock.com
- Coronavirus is having a significant impact on how much time people are spending gaming and watching videos.
- However, the virus isn’t having an impact on how much time people spend on social media.
- It seems that the skewed version of reality presented by social media isn’t too attractive to people in self-isolation.
Coronavirus has millions of people around the country trapped in their homes. While we’re all stuck inside, we’ve been gaming, watching TV, and surfing the net. The increase has been pretty dramatic. Time spent gaming has increased by 75%, according to Verizon.
That week-on-week increase isn’t true for everything, though. For some reason, people aren’t using social media any more than they already were.
Either people don’t really enjoy social media, or we’ve reached a point of such saturation where it’s just not possible to use it any more than we already have been.
Coronavirus Doesn’t Make Social Media More Attractive
It seems likely that gaming is a more attractive activity during coronavirus lockdown than social media. That’s because gaming is a great hobby that people want to enjoy more. But, it’s also because social media is filled with reminders of the deadly contagion sweeping the populace.
Essentially, gaming is escapism, while social media attempts to represent reality. It’s obviously a slightly-skewed version of reality. But, it’s still ‘reality’ none-the-less.
Another unsurprising element is the massive increase in the use of VPN’s. How else are people going to be getting those free PornHub Premium accounts from Italy?
Gaming Will Probably Benefit for Months to Come
There aren’t many silver linings to coronavirus. Millions of people are trapped in their homes. Many are fearing for their family and health. If there is a benefit, it’s that people have more time to spend at home with their loved ones. And, of course, they have more time to spend gaming.
It seems like people just aren’t that interested in social media right now. It’s hard to blame them. When the world outside is falling apart, why would you want to feed it directly into your brain?
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of CCN.com.
