While quarantine has made people insanely bored, people who are stuck inside tend to revert to their phones. While using social media seems like a good idea during this time, this article tells of the reasons it is not.  

With COVID-19 spreading across the world like wildfire, countries have made efforts to prevent the increase of cases. In Florida, we’ve closed down our beaches and parks, limited essential workplace’s store hours and closed non-essential workplaces.  

We have a standard rule of staying six feet apart from strangers in stores, when exercising, grabbing food, etc. However, social media is making this regulation hard. We see people out with their friends through apps like Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter, Tiktok, etc.  

During this pandemic, we should be isolating ourselves and staying home, only going out of the house when it is absolutely essential. When we see our friends hanging out on social media, we get the idea that it is safe to go out in small groups. These small groups may turn to larger ones and from there, things can get out of hand.  

I cannot count the amount of times I have seen groups of people posting pictures on social media with their friends. They park in parking lots or other public places and sit in their car trunks to socialize. They are clearly not six feet apart and in groups of at least four or more people. 

This angers me because it convinces others that this is a safe way to hang out. The more often this happens, the longer we will be stuck in quarantine, something we should be doing anyways instead of hanging out in our cars.  

I also see that people are posting about themselves out and about on the beach. The beaches are CLOSED. There’s news going around about the access of beaches for exercise, but in these social media posts, they are clearly not exercising, but lounging on towels in bikinis.  

This is not okay. The beaches are closed for a reason. Beaches aren’t closed to take the fun away or to punish anyone. It is solely for the protection of not only yourself, but other people around you. These public places will open back up when the time is right. They are taking things nice and slow. 

When people see others on social media laying on the sand for a nice tan, they get the idea that the beaches are open and safe. This increases the number of people going out their house for non-essential reasons.  

Another reason social media is acting against us during this time is because it influences people to stock up on items in stores. When posts go viral of empty shelves in grocery stores, this makes people want to act fast and take as much as they can for themselves and their families.  

If everyone took only what they needed, we wouldn’t be having this problem. The lack of resources like water, food, toilet paper, diapers, etc. scares people into thinking they need to grab as much as they can.  

This leaves the people who desperately need these items in need them even more. It is sad that our world has come to this, so we must be helping each other in the easiest ways we can. Social media makes it harder for everyone who is struggling and deepens the issues we are going through.  

If we want quarantine to end sooner, we must follow the rules and stay home as much as we can. We should only be going out when it is essential. In order to make things safer for us all, it would be best to take a halt on posting on social media and do your part.