Corona Diary: Day 9 – it’s all gone viral

Unsurprisingly, social media is experiencing a bit of a revival. For the last year, social media has taken a bit of a beating, being blamed for everything from rigged elections , to social anxiety to divorce.

When you’re stuck inside with nowhere to go but online, though, its amazing how everyone starts to see its positive side.

Like a seed that begins to grow only during a forest fire, online sharing has flourished. It turns out that social media may be our greatest weapon in these troubled times. Living your life in public may have, surprisingly, turned out to not be the healthiest of lifestyle choices, but having a means of communication that can transcend borders, social boundaries and physical location is nigh on miraculous during this time of confinement. And boy, have people grabbed the ball and run with it. Every day, a new and exciting online event goes live. Just tonight, the cast and writers of the Doctor Who episode Vincent and the Doctor, the fabulous episode about Vincent van Gogh which highlighted mental health problems, organized and took part in a live event where viewers were encouraged to simultaneous launch the episode on their video streaming service of choice. The cast members then provided a live commentary on the episode as it streamed.

Sticking to the art theme, the Getty Museum has organized an online challenge to recreate famous works of art using household objects and a fabulous amount of creativity.

The creativity of the public has been further harnessed by Greg Davies and Alex Horne who have taken the global success that is Taskmaster and opened it up to all comers, asking members of the public to send in videos of them completing daily challenges, such as the most creative way to throw paper in a bin, or the most entertaining dancing elephant.

Challenging the public, it seems, is quite a popular theme at the moment. Even Andrew Lloyd Webber couldn’t resist sending out a challenge to sing along to Any Dream Will Do from Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat. Beautifully, this resulting in a play off behind him and Lin Manuel Miranda, each challenging the other to play songs from each others back catalogs.

Meanwhile, other musicians are simply performing free concerts from their home, such as Chris Martin, John Legend, and many others.

The truth is, I could go on for ever about the amazing things people are doing online. People like comic book artist Will Sliney who is sharing his art skills under the hashtag #wewilldraw, or Dana Jay Bein and Adrian Grimes, with their marvellous take on Bohemian Rhapsody.

People are indomitable. We will continue to connect whether you separate us by fire or flood or plague. Keep on sharing. Sharing is how we survive.