Things to do when you are bored in lockdown - Vansh Gupta

Hey, are you bored? I would like to believe that you are. Most of you would have done everything possible to entertain yourself during the lockdown but there are never enough things to do. As we are already in lockdown for the past 2 months you must have already done most of the things around the house. Most of our routines include waking up, eating, watching TV/ playing games, and sleeping. Here are some things which you can do to entertain your self:

1. Online games

There are a lot of games out there but playing alone gets boring very quickly. Here are some games which you can play with your family and friend which would keep your mind from getting bored. Some of my favorite games are listed below. 

Game to play: 

1. Online ludo(ludo king, ludo world): a classic game that you can play on your mobile devices. It is very fun when you play with your family and friend. 
2. PUBG mobile: a mobile game where 100 players drop down and find equipment like guns, scopes, attachments, and other gear. all the players fight till death till one remains. (It is a very addictive game so play with caution)
3.  GTA V online: If you are privileged enough to have a working gaming console, you can have a lot of fun with people online. GTA V is an RPG game where you build your character, collect gun, and destroy a whole city, you can run from the police, kill civilians, and do other missions. If you are not into killing people then you can also dress your character, get a hair cut, get tattoos, or buy new clothes. GTA V is one of my most favorite games which I like to play with my friend. ( i would not recommend you to play around your family or kids

TV shows

After 2 months in lockdown, I believe that you have already binge-watched most of the shows which you have already seen. so here is a list of shows which I recommend to watch during the lockdown.

1. Friend: a classic show which is made in the '90s which is still breaking records, it about 6 friends who are learning about life. the 6 friends are very different compared to each other but they work as a team to conquer life. I would recommend you to watch this with your family as it is a sitcom
2. Big bang theory: the show is a comedy sitcom where four socially awkward friends, Leonard, Sheldon, Howard, and Raj, take a wild turn when they meet the beautiful and free-spirited Penny. the 4 friends are very smart scientists who are looking to make a name form them selfs. I would recommend you to watch this with your family as it is a very inspiring show. 
3. Mirzapur: the show is about mafia or a don who rules the city of Mirzapur. the show shows the upbring of the mafia and how the empire was built. there are also 2 more characters who are brothers who work hard to take over the city. This show is amazing. this is one of my most favorite shows which I have ever seen. I would not recommend you to watch this show with your family because it includes a lot of inappropriate language. if you watch it with your family than things might get awkward.
4. 2 and a half men: this is a classic show about 2 brothers, one of the brothers is extremely rich and has limitless money. the other brother has a boy, he is very hard working but he never gets the prize for working hard. the 2 brothers have to live together because of the situation. trough the seasons of the show, the boy learns things from his uncle which are not necessarily ethical or the right thing to do. I have recently watched the show, I have to say that this is one of the best things which I have watched. I would not recommend you to watch this with your family as it is not appropriate for the environment. 

Some of the other shows which you can watch are Brooklyn 99, sex education, and criminal justice. all the shows are really up to the mark. but I would like to recommend the shows above.

If you are fortunate enough to have a pet at home, then spend time with them. If you have a dog then play fetch or take him out for long walks, I have listed some of the things to do but non of them include pets so don't ignore your pets. also just talking to your friend and family would help you to get over the lockdown. don't forget to write what you have done so far in the lockdown to entertain yourself 

Video Games: Entertainment Or Threat?

Video Games: Entertainment Or Threat? 

Krishnam Daga, 16 May 2020 

“Bro, I like this gun a lot!”, “ I killed him, huh, easy clap!” or “You are trash! Go Die”... 

You must have heard your kids saying these sentences while playing video games, but have you ever

imagined what impact could it have on your child? Video games are getting more popular day by day with

games such as Fortnite and PUBG which are played by more than 250 million players. This industry has

taken a huge leap in the last 5 years targeting their potential customers, which are kids. According to a

survey taken by “gamecrate.com”, playing video games is the most popular activity for teenagers(age: 8-

16). Even though kids enjoy playing video games and find it fun, it can also be a threat to their developing

mindset. Also, don’t consider this as just factful data, it is coming from a teenager itself who was addicted

to video games i.e. me. 

These are some of the harmful impacts of playing video games on children:

Violence: According to a survey taken by “healthline.com”, 91% of the popular games played by
teenagers and children contain some sort of violence. The most popular game right now is Fortnite
which is rated for children above the age of 12 contains information about different kinds of guns and
players killing each other in the game. It was proven that some of the most popular games such as “Grand Theft Auto 5” and “PUBG” are rated 18+ but the age group they are most played by is 10-15. These games contain graphic content that is not suitable for the targeted age group.

Health: Sitting and staring at a screen constantly can affect your body. The blue light present in digital
screens such as laptops and mobile phones comes straight to your eye and damages it. It weakens the
visibility and can even result in eye strain. Looking at a screen daily for a long time can cause a severe
eye problem. 

 Also, sitting at a place for a long time without moving that much can make your body stiff and body
movements tougher. It can also cause epilepsy which can give the person(children) seizures and sudden
shocks. It may also negatively impact the overall participation in physical sports. 

Addiction: Because of their young and growing minds, children tend to easily get addicted to video games
. If someone doesn’t stop them, they could play for hours without stopping. According to “daily.co.uk”,
children at an average spend 15 hours a week playing games which could be extremely harmful to them.

Cyber Bullying: Teenagers and children tend to get very toxic while playing games with their friends or
with random people. As mentioned earlier, “ You are trash! Just quit this game and sit in a corner”, the
sentence is an example of this. They get very verbal and aggressive while playing the game and always
want to be superior which could result in cyberbullying.

Electronic games are an emerging industry that is very attractive to children. It has some negative
impacts on children such as Cyber Bullying, Way of Spending, Addiction, Health, Violence etc., but only if it is abused. Gaming is not bad, but anything done at an excess is harmful which is what is
happening right now. If the following points are controlled, children balance everything and do not
abuse it, it would be perfectly suitable for everybody making it advantageous for everybody. 

Bois Locker Room: Who is to blame? by Saranya Gandhi

Bois locker room: Who is to blame? 

Unless you live under a rock, I'm pretty sure you have come across the Bois locker room text chain. In the last week or so, there have been various debates, social media trials, and lawsuits even. For those of you who aren't aware of the issue- last week, a boy in 11th grade from one of the elite schools of Delhi shared screenshots of a text chain that he was added to called the "Bois locker room" on his Instagram story. It didn't take long for the horrifying screenshots to reach the screens of almost every school kid in NCR. The screenshots showed the harsh reality of the upcoming generations- the text chain consisted of about 40-50, 16-20-year-old guys from the most elite institutions of Delhi, sharing morphed and private pictures of girls and passing derogatory and unwanted critical remarks.  

  

What saddened me the most was how shamelessly comfortable these young men were while objectifying women. With this one issue coming to light- there were so many others that arose with it- mental health, lack of sex education in the Indian education system, education of mental health, cyber crimes, the morphing of images, and the list goes on. So really, what is leading to this normalization of the rape culture? Everyone has a different explanation to give, some defend it with baseless arguments such as "the girls shouldn't have sent the pictures" or even worse "boys will be boys." Normalization of the rape culture and toxic masculinity happens because of the archaic ideas of male dominance that surprisingly enough, so many families still preach in India. From extremely sexist WhatsApp jokes to casually passing comments like "don't cry like a girl", slowly these "casual" jokes turn into joking about rape, passing unwanted sick comments and encouragement of deplorable mindsets. Yes, men get raped too and it is as big of an issue, but only talking about men getting raped when women getting raped is spoken about is only going two steps backward. Defending these young adults is only encouraging them to continue with this horrifying behavior. We tend to blame lack of education for the hike in rapes, but this is a clear example of the fact that education is just one of the reasons this happens, upbringing and casually throwing around sexist and offensive jokes on different social media platforms only results in encouragement.

These guys then got slapped with some well-deserved defamation since allegations were backed up with evidence, yet they had to audacity to do and defend. I personally feel that this behavior is unacceptable from and towards any gender. Gender equality cannot be achieved unless people stop defending this gross reality. There is no gender that is more superior to another. No friendship, apology, or airheaded humor takes precedence over morality. There is no euphemism that can abate how wrong this is. In the end, it's on us to decide- who is to blame.

Please share your point of view and write to me if you liked this blog!

Contact:

Email: saranyagandhi07@gmail.com

Instagram: @saranyagandhi_

The Effect Home Quarintine has had on the Global Environment during the Covid 19 Pandemic by Anmol V

Hello Readers, how are you? I am sure most of you must be bored during home quarintine,right? However, our environment is improving drastically during this Pandemic and this is one thing to look forward to after this is over, that we will step out with fresh air to breathe and we will see clean rivers and waterways again.

During this Global Pandemic most of the countries worldwide are under lockdown and the vast majority of the world's population are not stepping out of their homes. Recent research has suggested despite the severe effects of the lockdown on Mental Health, the environment of many countries has improved drastically. Here are some examples.:

1. In India reports have said that "nearly 71% fall in Nitrogen Dioxide level in cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai. Also, Anand Vihar is pollution levels have dropped to 65 AQI whereas last year Anand Vihar was one of the most polluted areas in the country with the AQI crossing well beyond 400 according to geospatialworld.net.

Image from:BusinessInsider.com

2.  Secondly, China has seen N02 reduced by 35% this year according to the European Space Agency's Copernicus Sentinel-5P Satellite . In Italy N02 levels have reduced by 40% in cities like Milan. Many Experts have claimed this is one of the biggest falls in pollution in Italy and China for a long time.

Image from :newsweek.com

3. Thirdly, several images online show that Venice and Ganga is cleanliness is improving and this could mean our rivers and waterways are getting healthier again.

4. Lastly, while we are in quarantine, we have seen our wildlife coming out and occupying our roads. For example, in Thailand a mob of Monkeys ran on the streets and started fighting each other for food. So, our wildlife have started enjoying the cities while we are in lockdown.

Image of Thailand and their streets filled with monkeys: Image from:MarketWatch.com

To conclude despite the negative effects on mental health and while our lives becoming more boring, our environment is prospering during this time.

Citations:
https://www.geospatialworld.net/blogs/air-pollution-drops-in-india-courtesy-covid-19/
https://www.newsweek.com/coronavirus-major-impact-environment-co2-air-quality-animals-1493812

THINGS TO DO DURING QUARANTINE... by Vedansh Bhagat

Are you getting bored of lying down on your bed and having absolutely nothing to do entire day during this lockdown? Or do you ever feel that you are just wasting your precious time sitting on social media the entire day? Well, here are few interesting things that you can do during quarantine from which you can make the most of your time.

1) Pick up a new hobby: There are a lot of hobbies that you might that you weren't able to pursue due to lack of free time while your school was going on. Well, with lockdown, you have a lot of free time now to pursue those hobbies, so pick up brush and START PAINTING or get some ingredients and START COOKING. Through this, you get to pass your free time in a PRODUCTIVE way. 

2) Do a course: With Zoom on the roll, a lot of successful universities and companies have started providing the same physical courses in a video call. With these courses you can learn different skills in a very short period of time. All you need to do is just find these courses online and register. You can do courses on Computer Programming, Cooking, Make-up (mostly anything). In this way you get to pass your time and also learn a new lifelong skill. 

3) Organise your life: Have a lot of plans for your future but have absolutely no idea about how to pursue them? Well you now have all the time you need. Open your laptop and start researching. Surf online for different colleges you might be interested in and look for the available courses. Look for different career options that you might like and look for the qualifications required in each. With this excess free time in hand, you can explore as many options as you like till you find the right one.

So if you ever get bored during quarantine, start doing any of the above things and pass your excessive free time in an interesting and a productive manner...