Over the pandemic a lot of things ended up happening, the main thing of course being the societal lockdown and quarantining. Since I didn’t have to really go anywhere, and classes became a lot shorter because they were online, I had a lot more free time in between them. However, since I couldn’t really go to the library because of the required social distancing, similar to my then zoom classes I ended up going online to find more stuff to do instead, which was mainly more anime and manga. If I remember correctly, back near the end of 7th grade when the pandemic first started, there wasn’t much work for me to do either, as teachers were adjusting their curriculum to online classes, and student’s were very likely not paying attention in classes like they should’ve been. When I had finished the brief homework I was assigned for the day I would end up sometimes with nothing to do, so the time that I had usually spent only on the weekends watching shows started to bleed over into the weekdays after my classes had ended.
It started with anime that I had already watched before, I would go looking for a site (with an adblocker) to reread or catch up to the things that I had already started, and then when I was done with those I started to move on to newer ones. My formerly tiny to-watch list grew exponentially, as well as the list for the shows and manga I had read all the way through because of it. One of my strongest memories of the early pandemic time (not that I have many other strong memories to compete with it) was how consistently I would have my screen split into two sides: one for my school work, which would be the bigger window until I finished said homework and then closed it out, and the anime site tab. It was also then that I started tracking seasonal anime that I could watch each week, a habit that isn’t as strong today due to the fact that I now have more work than I did then. Due to online learning the lack of a need to get up super early the next morning to get ready to get driven to school, the early pandemic was also when I first started to stay up late in order to binge watch and/or binge read.
In general I think over the pandemic I started to consume a lot more media than I had before, and now my habits whenever I watch or read a new show have changed from how they were before as well. And as the years have gone by from 2020, while some of my habits from back then have shifted back in some way due to having more work now, those pandemic induced changes are still present in some way, shape, or form. For instance, the biggest one as of now is reading and/or watching all of something in practically one sitting. However this habit tends to backfire on me a lot, because when I get too sucked into the media by the time I’ve finished it or even come to a point where I feel as if I could stop for the moment it’s already some very late hour in the morning. The biggest present examples of this are from a few weeks ago where I decided to read an about 98 chapter manga and then ended up going to bed at 4 am, and the fact that by some force of nature I managed to read all of the One Piece manga in 3 months. Overall I think that the time that the pandemic gave me ended up allowing me to take in more media in shorter amounts of time, which to be honest is helpful now that I don’t have much time to take a long time to watch things.
I had a similar experience with the pandemic in terms of the increased consumption of media and other forms of technology. I remember back in 7th grade, with the light workload that you mentioned, my friends and I would just grind out all the homework in the morning and game for the rest of the day. The pandemic also served as my introduction to anime, similar to your experience. In the end, you seem to have a more positive outlook on this habit during the pandemic than I do; I saw my consumption of media as addictive and unhealthy. However, I do occasionally reminisce the fun moments gaming with my friends. Great post!
ReplyDeleteMy experiences with the pandemic were similar. Since I didn't have much to do during the school year aside from attending short class periods and occasional homework, I spent a lot of my time listening to music and watching TV shows and movies. I specifically got really into Grey's Anatomy, and watched 12 seasons over the course of a few months. Great post overall, Gabby!
ReplyDeleteI think most people had a similar experience during the pandemic. The only way to connect with others was through electronic screens. Using a screen was literally the only way to stay in touch with friends, extended family, do work, attend school, do homework, etc. I've made some amazing memories from calling my friends and playing games during the pandemic, so I'm happy that I was at least able to have some positive takeaway from the pandemic through the form of positive memories. Great post!!
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