QUARANTINE DIARIES
How Puppy Videos Keep Your Sanity
Free distractions that keep us together, sort of
Why do we watch cute videos? Puppies learning how to howl, cats failing at jumping, and babies doing weird funny things? When I go to YouTube, even if I didn’t ask for it, it pops into my feed.
Watch one of those and you are in for a pit of never-ending recommendations of similar clips that are considered light, harmless, and just make you feel good. It makes you say, awwee. So cute, I can’t.
And man, look at the stats on those things. Two million in views for those kinds of videos are kinda low for its kind. And so I thought, wow. This type of content sells. It kind of says a lot about us humans in the 21st century.
That’s a substantial number of people. People who are ought to be “modern” and “advanced”. It’s funny. But why is that? How did we arrive here?
An Escape from Reality
One comment I read as I scroll through the section, “Given the current state of affairs, this was a welcome diversion.” And I got to thinking- if there’s one thing, one thing that our prehistoric ancestors got right, its gotta be taming them wolves. And before we go into a debate about wolves not being dogs, fine. You win. But I think no one will deny that dogs are such a gift. We don’t deserve them. My dogs are keeping my sanity so, I don’t know if that says a lot about the dogs or about me.
Let’s just say it's about the dogs.
But let's go back to the videos. Why do we watch these things? It is rather obvious that we do it for the sake of escaping the reality that we’re living in. It's tough to live in this world right now. It is tough to keep one’s sanity when you are in quarantine and wouldn’t know what to do.
Bless those people who take time to shoot their pets, no pun intended of course. That way we get to see a glimpse of their cuteness and we get to forget our own misery. If these videos will allow me to keep my head clear from thinking dark thoughts, then so be it. Sign me up.
But is that a great strategy though? I mean, denial is only the first step in the six stages of grief. But I thought, what am I grieving about?
I think I am grieving for humanity and the demise that awaits us. Ah, too much? Come on, you’re thinking about it too. We’re all thinking about it. That’s why these videos that take our attention away from real life are clicked through and they’re selling like hotcakes. But okay, before I get off track again. Here’s what’s upsetting me, not that anybody asked haha, but here it is. I am grieving for the normalcy that we once had. I am disheartened by the fact that I used to do stuff freely, and now, I don’t get to do it. I feel sucky because isolation literally sucks the life out of you.
Because what is a meaningful life? Interacting with other humans is a need. The amount of bad news on television and social media is ever-present. Everyone, society is turning this world into a small village, and while that brought a lot of opportunities to many places, damn. It still sucks that we get to deal with the concerns of the world. And seriously, I have been tuning out. I have been shutting all my social media but then all this news still freakin gets to me.
And for someone who absorbs information like a sponge, this is not a good place to be. I am trying to keep my peace. Yes, I am trying to tidy my space. To set my family’s affairs in order, but this world just has to rain on my parade. It just has to.
Man, it’s really awesome if we could just all spiral down and not care. But there are also rules in this world. You have to be socially aware of other people and their feelings, and you have to be politically correct, or you have to be aware of people that are tone policing other people. Seriously! I wish people would just look at another person without any preconceived notions, and just treat each other like humans. Like, get to know people as people. It is so tiring. This quarantine is again, sucking the life out of us and guess what. There is no other way around. We just have to freakin deal with the situation like adults because that is the most “rational” thing to do when I argue it’s not.
Shutting down from civilization…Or not
What can I say… We are living through tough times. And I just want to shut it all down. Man, can I just live on a bunker? It’s not even a good strategy to do that. I envy people who lived early. But that is just a naive thing to say too when there have been wars and oppression centuries back. It’s almost petty to complain now when all you have to deal with is slow internet and people back then were thinking of the repercussions of enlisting themselves or their family members to war. I know. What a hypocrite, such an entitled millennial thing to say.
But what can I do? Are these feelings not valid then? Yes, we are entitled but can people just accept that it is a real struggle too? Or maybe it really isn’t a big struggle and as always we are just exaggerating. Like what the news does. Haha, what a turn of event. This article started with puppies and now we’re here.
I just know, I have so much frustration within me. Frustration to what’s happening in the world, and if I was just not operating on logic, I could’ve put the blame on our ancestors. Don’t you just wish you are ignorant at times?
Ignorance is bliss. Ah, the truth in that sentence hits me.
I wish… I have a lot of wishes. Is it so bad to not want pain? Can we just for once, live in peace?
Why can’t people leave people alone? I mean not that they shouldn’t interact but can we just please live in harmony? Haha, so naive. But hey. I did say it’s a wish. Wrong earth. Maybe in a parallel universe.
It’s funny to witness the denial that is plaguing our society. Let’s drown ourselves with the cute videos. I am not surprised. It’s interesting though that after the end of those clips, there is that sigh. That sigh, and a waning smile that indicates a welcoming thought of, hey welcome to your screwed reality again. We are tricking the mind of that rush of happiness and joy. And you search for another. And click again. It's addicting. The rush of happy chemicals running through your body feels so damn foreign. Or maybe it's just me.
