The Coronavirus pandemic has ravaged our day-to-day lives. We used to be in our offices working; we’re in our beds now. We used to go out with our friends to restaurants and bars, and now we’re Zooming to receive some semblance of human connection. Most noticeably of all, we are becoming insanely bored from being locked inside all day.

While others turn to crafts, cooking, gardening, or home improvement, the majority of people like to watch other people exude creativity, and thus are diving deep into their favorite shows, YouTube channels, and Netflix/Amazon Prime accounts. Since January, websites like Facebook, Netflix, and YouTube are experiencing insane growth: Site traffic is up 27%, 16%, and 15.3% respectively. “I’ve been finding myself spending excessive hours watching videos mindlessly, and when I’m not, I’m hunting for more,” my friend David Jacquish, a student at the University of Central Florida, told me.

There’s a big demand from the audience for more content to keep them entertained when there’s little else to do, but on the other side are YouTubers that don’t have teams to help them write, produce, and edit videos like television studios have. They’re experiencing the same virus we are, and the net result is a huge shift in the way we receive, consume, and even create media.

Billy Giese, who goes by Peridiam on YouTube, makes video essays on the shows “Survivor” and “Big Brother” to over 70,000 subscribers. Recently, he’s been making battle maps, roads to victory and cast analyses for “Survivor’s” monumental 40th all-winner season. The show has also suffered the effects of the Coronavirus—the most recent reunion show was scrapped, and the finale was hosted remotely. Giese’s tried-and-true weekly upload schedule hasn’t been affected by the lockdown much, but has freed up some time set for working ahead. “Because I haven't traveled since COVID hit, I've had no need to create videos beyond what's up next,” he said.

Giese’s weekly videos that reference 20 years of “Survivor” history is enough to tide any superfan over, but lately I’ve been discovering new creators that make videos on a wide variety of topics. I’ve seen hundreds of hours of content from video game players, music reviewers, interior decorators, and fitness experts all from my house. “I’ve found a few new creators who I really like,” Anna Savo-Matthews, a friend at Georgetown University, told me. “I think that there’s only so much stuff you can do inside your house, so I think people probably default to spending time online.”

The most recent season of “Survivor” took place largely in quarantine, giving fans a chance to ruminate over the complex gameplay displayed every week. To break it down for fans, Giese makes “Battle Maps” of recent episodes, analyzing down who talked to whom, and clearing up the intense strategy. “I always look forward to the next episode; however, I view each week as a timer, I get 7 days to put together my next vid, usually directly referencing the latest events of the season,” he said. “They were definitely inspired by a desire to talk about what we just saw, breaking everything down and making sense of it.”

In this new world, productivity is mostly thrown out the window. More and more people are turning to entertainment rather than the bleak news, eager to find a way out of the reality we are currently in. Content creators are grateful for the audience they cultivate, and vice versa; we can view our favorite topics on platforms like YouTube for free. In this pandemic lockdown, this cycle might be the sole thing keeping us all sane.