Revival of the DIY Era

DIY-tok is making the For You Page just a little more colorful, averaging a running total of over 229.6 billion views. Whether it be home renovations, clothing upcycling or even charcuterie boards for the next girls night, the modern spin on DIY projects have provided more benefits outside of the final product.

By Carlton Wiggins

DIY, or “do it yourself” projects, have been around for decades. In fact, they date back as far as the 1950s. Nowadays, you can find DIY projects for anything in almost any medium. Whether it’s a home improvement project that you read about in a magazine, a life hack that you stumble across on TikTok, or a cooking recipe that you see on television, there’s definitely a DIY project out there for you.

If you want to get creative, you can even make your own version. It’s your project and no one can tell you what to do.

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, DIY projects have seen a boom in the digital and physical market. With many cities being placed under lockdowns, DIY projects were one of the many activities that kept people’s minds busy while cooped up in their homes.

According to a report from the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies, nearly 80 percent of homeowners started a DIY project in May of 2020. If you were scrolling through TikTok during the pandemic, you probably saw at least one DIY video showing how to install a tile floor. If you wanted to learn how to build a shed, you could simply go on Google and research the products and steps.

With the power of the internet at our fingertips, we can utilize platforms like TikTok, YouTube, and Google to find countless DIY projects. An article from Inc. Magazine stated that the DIY world was expected to be worth nearly $14 billion dollars in 2021. It’s safe to say that the DIY era is back on the rise.

Committing to a DIY project comes with many different benefits. You can save a lot of money by taking out the middleman and doing the work yourself. You can learn a new skill that can be useful in other situations or inspire you to pursue a certain career. You can discover a new “happy place” that helps you better handle stress and anxiety. You can bond with friends over a newly discovered hobby. You may even meet new people!

In an article titled How Home DIY Jobs May Improve Your Mental Health, Robert Haynes, an author at news media company Psychreg, stated, “studies show that DIY home jobs help people forget about negativity in their lives. You will increase positive emotions and let them run freely. […] Doing some little things around your home will help you lower the amount of stress. Loneliness will go away if you choose to call your friends to help you with your DIY projects.”

The DIY era has made a huge comeback in the past couple of years, and for good reason. Doing DIY projects not only helps out your pockets, but it can bring you peace of mind. So, whether your first project is something big like remodeling your house or something as small as cooking a new meal, just hop online, do some research, and learn something new! Who knows? You might just end up discovering your new passion.