By Isabel Chang ’24

It’s nearly been a year since the beginning of quarantine – or, at least, an attempt at it. However, one thing has not changed. From the very beginning, there has been a nonstop drone about how quarantine has effectively canceled out any human form of trying to be productive, and how what any human now does at home is watch shows while wishing the world outside is not what it is.

Yet, at the same time, these seemingly unproductive activities are precisely what has made quarantine so unarguably productive.

There is a reason why quarantine hobbies have become a thing, and depending on one’s definition of “productive”, there isn’t really any reason to believe these activities picked up solely out of boredom aren’t true attempts at solving the constant lazy flow of time. Whether it be using up all available ingredients in your house for a never-ending banana bread baking bonanza, or (to the annoyance of your neighbors) picking up the piano, there has never really been a time where people had so much free time to explore new hobbies and passions.

Before, the majority of people got caught up in the cycle of school and work, afterschool activities to participate in, and socializing with friends. Now, however, even with attending school and going to work gingerly picking back up, many extracurriculars don’t require as much of a time commitment as they used to, and time with friends is usually spent in front of a phone camera than face to face.

Free time has become a staple in daily life whereas the blur of living was a constant state of being before. With this newly acquired time, never before has finding new hobbies become both a hobby in itself and something many people have actually turned to for salvation. People are learning and implementing new things everyday, whether they seem useless – like knitting – or quite impressive, such as finishing a 2,000 piece puzzle.

Hopefully this trend continues long after quarantine is over and people continue to find little things that bring them daily joy, whether it be completing coloring books, creating short term goals like watching all the Oscar nominees for best picture, or learning a new language.

If that is the case, then quarantine has not been unproductive at all. Rather, it has been an accumulation of little mental spurs which may lead to great things.