What did you do when the apps collapsed?

When the ‘great’ social media blackout of October, 4 2021 struck, I was sitting at my cubicle at work scanning the Facebook pages of news outlets and government agencies for their latest updates.

This is a usual routine of mine in search of story ideas for the following day’s newspaper. A few minutes into my search I found myself on Instagram scurrying through the pictures of the people I follow on that platform; and truth be told, I only knew half of them. But, I’m a ‘lover’, not ‘liker’, so I was simply double-tapping my way through albums of strangers, celebrities and of course, the iconic memes meme pages. That’s when things took an ominous turn and the dreaded blackout commenced.

Like many persons I thought it was the fault of our local network company, because like many of you, I too know how reliable these service providers are.

I must have refreshed my Instagram feed about five times, harbouring negatives thoughts about a particular company. With no luck, I quit ‘Insta’ and went back to Facebook, which also refused to load. I then proceeded to WhatsApp, only to find that some of my previously-sent messages never even got a single tick.

I spent a few minutes ranting, only to be stopped in my tracks by one of my co-workers stopped me in my tracks, disclosing that and all its sister-apps were down. A “social media blackout,” they said.

Now as a Guyanese, power outages or “blackouts” are nothing new to me, but this was a different kind of blackout; it was one that I had never experienced before, and for most of the people around me, it had been uncomfortable to say the least.

For me though, the first two hours were no ‘biggie’ to get by, largely because most of my life doesn’t reside or revolve around social media. I missed no conversations but I did find my myself aimlessly scrolling through the pages of my Instagram and Facebook, hoping it was up and running again.

A few hours would go by, and I would be relatively unbothered, but not for long. On the sixth hour, being without social media felt as though I had been transported back to a ‘cave girl’ state; I didn’t quite like the feeling, but I was adamant that I would persevere and overcome the horrors of the blackout.

To cope, I resorted to the paint application on my work desktop, drawing random shapes and structures. While I’m no Picasso, I did create a master piece of first-grade; it was a piece of art work that I was pleased to have associated with my name. I didn’t want to brag and say I would proud.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the office, my co-worker was distraught. The blackout forced him to use his phone credit to communicate, and it didn’t seem like he was pleased. But my colleague persevered and he and his girlfriend reached a compromise; they resorted to communication via TikTok, perhaps pioneering a whole new movement. To be honest, I had no clue that TikTok had a ‘direct message’ feature.

Nonetheless, while that colleague managed to take his love life to “the Tok”, a few others were still in a bit of a frenzy, constantly complaining and repeatedly asking the irritating question of whether “Facebook was back up yet.”

A few of my other colleagues resorted to sending emails, SMS, BIP and even used the good ole’ tool of a simple phone call to communicate with their friends and family, and to get work done.

Eventually, I settled in nicely and spent the remainder of my day listening the music on Spotify and watching makeup tutorials on YouTube. All while I work, of course.

As the day progressed further, I even had good, hearty laughs as I observed some persons who seemed as though they were completely unable to function without social media. It was a level of dependence I would never want to descend to.

Of course, the “blackout” did put a damper in my day, but it also made me realize that I spend way too much time aimlessly scrolling through these websites. Don’t get me wrong social media does have its pros; It keeps us up to date with news, issues and trends at present-time speeds; it also provides an environment for many creatives such as artists, musicians and even writers like myself to share their work with their relatives, friends and even the rest of the world, if they so choose.

Most importantly, these outlets, especially Facebook, connects people, especially at a time when we are in a deadly battle against a global pandemic. I have been able to chat, share milestones and even rekindle relations with relatives and friends I have not seen in years.
To be honest, up until 2017, social media was the only means of contact I had for my elder sister which I hadn’t seen in ten years. With sites such as Facebook, I can video chat her to my heart’s content.

Also, Facebook and Instagram are my go-to places for the most hilarious memes and videos, especially on those days when I’m feeling down, and in need of hearty laughs. And, as I mentioned earlier, social media is a space that is bombarded with interesting information and facts that make for unique and intriguing stories for the newspaper; it has become an important platform for journalists and persons within the communications field.

I hadn’t realized until the blackout how much social media has evolved and just how much the world’s population depend on it; even our grandmothers! Also, have you seen the memes that the ‘social media blackout’ created? Some of the post-blackout comments also had me cracking up.

Even with its pros, the blackout left me with some lingering questions; do we use social media too much? Have we become addicted? How long do you think we can go without it? Can we even handle another “blackout”?

If you have some answers, opinions or even questions, feel free to email me at naomiparris2808@gmail.com or, leave a comment on the Guyana Chronicle’s Facebook page.