Lockdown certainly has its challenges, but that isn’t stopping community spirit, Great British sarcasm and all-out creativity from attempting to cheer us all up. It has certainly helped us. Memes about life during self-isolation, videos of adorable grandparents getting to grips with Whatsapp calls, clips of streets doing the #clapforcarers – they’re all helping to find and celebrate the common ground between us.
Content is doing what it does best: connecting people. Here are a few of the snippets that have brought us joy over the last few weeks. We hope they bring a smile to your face too.
Born-from-boredom videos
We have to commend the creativity of some of the made-at-home videos we’ve seen circling.
Sports commentators deserve a round of applause. There’s Nick Heath’s quirky snapshots into life in Tooting and Simon Cotter’s hilarious commentary about his dog’s dinner time.
We also really enjoyed watching families get creative together, including the lockdown version of ‘One Day More’ from Les Mis. Lyrics include “one more day’s home education, let’s just let them run amuck”, and “another day, another destiny, shopping for online delivery”. Singing so heroically about common complaints during the lockdown transforms the everyday niggles into a shared struggle we can laugh at together.
And then there’s the interpretative dance from the group of housemates, ingeniously choreographed with group compositions, straight faces and a simple bounce move. It’s difficult to explain, but it’s strangely mesmerising and you can watch it here. We’re enjoying how people are creating their own fun at home.
Parents unite over home-schooling woes
It seems that home-schooling has reminded lots of parents why they decided not to become teachers. People are sharing their experiences on Twitter, which has become a melting pot of originality. Thank you to these parents who have given us the following great lines:
“If you see my boys locked outside, mind your business. We’re having a fire drill. #homeschool”
“Homeschooling day 4. Today there was a lot of yelling & crying, things were thrown around, it was anarchy. But I calmed down and apologised to the kids and they seem ok about it.”
“Homeschooling day 7: The PE teacher is not wearing a bra.”
I’m sure many of us can relate. Thanks to parents reaching out with their humour, there has been a real sense of community around the home schooling effort. Shared experiences and humour have also translated into shared resources, tips and helpful ideas for activities.
The gems of society
It is also thanks to lockdown that we have learned about some of the unsung heroes in our society. For example, we’ve been able to meet this toddler who says hello to everyone he meets on walks (though he is now having to pretend). We’ve discovered a 79-year-old named Shirley who is creating home workout videos to help those who are self-isolating stay active. And we’ve met a man called Steve who set up a DJ booth to play tunes to his neighbours. Legends.
The good side of social media
Scrolling social media has become a daily ritual for many of us during lockdown. And it has meant that we’ve been able to see lots of the good stuff communities across the UK are doing to bring everyone together.
Our hearts were warmed by the neighbourly goodness of a street in Northampton singing happy birthday to a man on his 100th birthday. We were pleased to see that some neighbours had reserved an NHS worker’s parking space at home to make her life a little easier at the moment. Instagram also allowed us to see how people across the UK are thanking the people delivering their post – and how posties are thanking them back.
Have you seen any clips or stories you think are worth sharing? Paste the link in a comment below – we’d love to see them.
You can read more of our Coronavirus content here:
Five ways to create quick informative content
Tone of voice in crisis communications – tips to get it right
Social distancing, not social isolation – how to keep your team engaged
