Dawes, Louis, Bored, with Everything to Do

Bored, with Everything to Do

Louis Dawes

Entertainment is “the action of providing or being provided with amusement or enjoyment.” I would define entertainment as, enjoying something in order to feel emotion and fill time. The Coronavirus pandemic in 2020 has changed how everyone takes in and produces entertainment. No longer can people go to in-person concerts or shows because of the fear that the virus may be spread. Without being able to go out, people need to come up with new and different ways to pass time and amuse themselves in a time where there are no in-person interactions. Entertainment means not being bored or uninterested with what you are doing. It means not watching the hands on a clock tick around and around waiting for something to do. When you are entertained you are engaged, curious, and wondering what will happen next. In the pandemic, entertainment is very different from entertainment before the pandemic. There are no more live in-person concerts, conventions, or sporting events. People can no longer go out with friends to have fun around town. Now, entertainment is on a screen, instead of standing in the crowd at a football game. Fans are crowded around a television watching the game from their homes, so they don’t spread the disease. This is the same for concerts and conventions and even friend meetups. Now there is no face to face, only face to screen or face to mask. This change has had an extremely significant impact on how entertainment is consumed and distributed by people across the world. Modern day entertainment in a pandemic is different but advanced thanks to technology. Technology has made it possible for people to do things that they previously thought to be impossible. Now the educational system can be accessed entirely remotely. Elementary, middle, high school, and college can be accessed and taught completely over the internet. People all around the planet are able to be entertained by sports and special tournaments that are broadcast in new ways. For example, networks inserted crowd noise into games being held in empty stadiums. Also, the normal sports seasons were altered to accommodate schedules that were changed due to COVID. While the pandemic has hurt us in many different ways that will take years to recover from, it has had a significantly positive impact on entertainment. People have had to become more creative on how to entertain themselves and others, without the ability to go out. Social media has helped folks connect and entertain one another in a larger way than ever because everybody on the planet is dealing with the same problem. The changes that have faced entertainment have been very influential. They have showed us how people can adapt to any situation. People took on the challenge to find ways to help themselves and get more entertainment in an easier fashion. The current situation could be compared to a volcano exploding and making it so nobody could go outside and meet each other due to the poor air quality and conditions. In a situation such as this, humans must adapt to give themselves a life worth living in a harsh situation. Entertainment could be adapted in just the same way as it is now so that everybody across the world can access entertainment and be brought together by entertainment from their own home. Entertainment is needed so that humans can have more fun and enjoy life. If there was no happiness brought about by entertainment, society could become unmotivated and

depressed. In a way, during the pandemic entertainment has also helped get people get together more than ever. Even though nobody can meet in person, many more people can entertain one another through a screen and over the internet. Times such as these really show how important entertainment is to keep spirits up and keep us motivated.