Why COVID-19 Triggers Your Social Media Creeping

*Opens Instagram, scrolls thru feed, views stories, closes Instagram*

10 minutes later...

*Opens Instagram, scrolls thru feed, views stories, closes Instagram*

We've all been riding the waves brought on by COVID-19. All the while, we're also riding a free and gut wrenching emotional roller coaster probed by the significant change in our lifestyles.

Some days I am sad. Some days I am bored out of my mind. Some days I feel creatively inspired. Some days I feel hopeful. Some days I feel lonely.

Living in New York before COVID, I found myself jumping from event to event, meeting to meeting, work to happy hour, kickboxing class to a birthday, brunch to a night out. No matter how you spent your days pre-pandemic, quarantine has forced us to slow down in some shape or form.

Because none of us are getting the same level of human interaction that we're used to, we rely on the screen barrier of social media to fill that void. If you're curious what someone is doing, where do you turn now? Social media. If you need a laugh, where do you turn now? Social media. If you need affirmation, where do you turn now? Social media.

A decreased level of human interaction coupled with an increased amount of free time results in internal reflection, overthinking, and/or revisiting old memories. And with all of these things, it's like a natural unhealthy progression in our thought process to rely on social media for answers.

thoughts that have triggered my rabbit hole of social media creeping but are not limited to:

I wonder what ____ has been up to?

Are they even social distancing?

I wonder if he/she is quarantining together with their significant other?

Why aren't they quarantining together?

Who's house is that?

Did they break up?

Where he/she at?

I've even taken my investigation levels to a whole new level and discovered a way to view stories anonymously (I'm a work in progress y'all).

Social media creeping isn't limited to exes and current flings. It could be people you dislike, people you've chosen to love from afar, influencers, friends, etc.

Some other actions you may have found yourself doing: taking an increased interest in someone who never crossed your mind before COVID, watching an insane number of stories, spending 30 minutes scrolling thru your favorite influencer's feed, searching for people you don't follow, clicking on randos tagged in stories.

While rooted in my own social media creeping exploration, I finally asked myself, "why the fuck am I concerned with this person while just a few months ago, I was unbothered."

During a time where I questioned my own personal journey/ am more vulnerable to distraction, I realized that I was more susceptible to giving my energy to people who didn't deserve it.

COVID-19 is just as busy as the devil, honey.

While you are emotionally challenged, she (yes, I've declared COVID-19 a female) will trick you into thinking and feeling things you primarily wouldn't. While it's never a good time to compare yourself to others, doing it during COVID- 19 is NOT the time.

While I know this blog post isn't going to prevent you (or me for that matter) from creeping altogether, I hope that if you do feel "some type of way" after creeping, take the extra step to ask yourself the real why behind those feelings.

Reclaim that headspace and push thru. Focus on the people and activities that fuel you. If your time isn't now, it's coming. We're all taking this day by day, and there's a zero percent chance someone's social media account is showcasing their life in its entirety right now- or ever.

-B