By: Neera Mangat
I am thankful I have avoided Covid-19 during this pandemic. I’ve wanted to avoid it for loved ones who are either elderly or are immune compromised.
The pandemic has been difficult for me because my elderly mother had a stroke in May 2020 and spent her time in a Long Term Care home until her death this past August. My mother was independent before this happened and didn’t like her independence curtailed. Because of all of this I really desperately needed a distraction.
I found it in the form of YouTube. I was not familiar with YouTube before 2020. YouTube has really helped me keep calm and together. The things I like about YouTube are that it’s free and anyone can access it. It has so many features to it.
I had no idea I was missing out before. Now I use YouTube to learn anything and everything. I can look up recipes and watch the cook make the dish. I can look at obscure ideas and learn how people manage to do what they are talking about and see if I want to proceed or not.
Music videos are the best! And if you need some distraction, just find a playlist you like and you are good to go. One can also watch videos in other languages and put on the captions. I used to watch TV before 2020, however now I don’t watch it anymore. I watch YouTube.
You can go to faraway places anytime you want without leaving your community. At a click of a button, YouTube can take you to a fashion show in Europe or you can go to the Grand Canyon and see what it looks like instantly without having to hike there. Sunsets, sunrises are so lovely at certain locations that we can’t get at home. We can travel there instantly through YouTube.
YouTube has been a lifesaver for me. I had no idea at all what it was. I had heard about it and I thought it was just a regular video until I surprisingly came across it one night trying to distract myself from my problems. YouTube fulfilled my distraction problem. I absolutely love it.
I cannot say enough good things about it. One just has to avoid what one doesn’t want to look at and voila, one can have a wonderful evening. I don’t put videos or photos of myself up because I have issues regarding it so I’d prefer not to. If you haven’t used YouTube before, you might just like to try it!