How has the pandemic changed social media?
By: Ravneet Bhogal
Tags: Blm Protests, Masks, Blm, Covid 19, Police Brutality

The pandemic, to no one’s surprise, has completely overtaken everyone’s life. Things are different now, to say the least. But one of the main things that has definitely changed is the way the pandemic has shaped social media. Social media is different too because people are using it to convey awareness and helpful tips on how to survive the pandemic.

Some of these tips revolve around promoting mask usage and social distancing. Even Ontario Public Health is using social media to convey health and safety tips. They have used it to endorse masks through advice from scientists and specialists. They have also taken advantage of the portals to convey news form the Premier and the Prime Minister in terms of stages and shutdowns. In a way, it can be argued that social media is now a hub for news updates more than ever.

As well, many fashion brands have capitalized on the pandemic by creating appealing mask designs and normalizing masks as trendy, not boring. Match your mask to your outfit? Why not-everyone’s doing it! We even see celebrities wearing masks, both on and off the red carpet. Lady Gaga’s fetching ensembles at the 2020 VMAs creatively incorporated masks as part of her outfits. It’s cool to stay safe, kids. Listen to the idols

As well, people who rarely used social media in the past have started using it to raise awareness for different social issues. Black Lives Matter, police brutality and racism are some of the major issues being discussed. Back in May 2020, a white woman was put on blast for calling the cops and claiming to have been attacked by a black man. The male in question filmed the entire exchange and it soon went viral. The exchange led to the woman losing her job (rightly so) and the internet buzzing with discussions surrounding race and equality. As well, the topic of how malleable the police are when it comes to complaints from white people also became a topic of deep discussion. Why did this woman call the cops for absolutely no reason? Where’s the logic and why did this happen? Realistically, issues like this have been going on for many years. The minute people decided to peg blame on colored people and stigmatize them as brutal savages and thoughtless attackers was the minute the whole ideal changed. Luckily, this ideal has pretty much faded out but racism is still abound.

Police brutality and BLM go hand in hand too as massive issues sweeping through North America. It seems the pandemic hasn’t stunted the corrupt racism that exists within the American police culture. George Floyd, Breonna Taylor are only a few of the lives lost but their deaths will not go unpunished. An uproar of protest swept through Canada and the USA as citizens demanded action and punishment for those involved. If the United States government thinks we’re going to take this sitting down, they’re sorely mistaken. With the help of smartphones, interactions can now be filmed to shed light on how awful these situations truly are. But it does make one wonder: are things changing because it’s about time or because interactions are being filmed? Whatever did we do before camera phones…and how many more situations went unjustified in the past? Last I checked, everyone deserves rights and equality. Guess that doesn’t align with everyone’s opinions.