Monday, 27th April 2020
Why do we write? What is it about our stories and information that means that we have to keep it in the written form?
One of the many things that sets us apart from the other animal species, is our ability to record our communication. And in this time of uncertainty, people are turning more to the written word. I have previous blogged about people turning to fiction during lockdown to help seem them through. But, it seems, that people are also becoming obsessed with articles and information about coronavirus, the things that can be done to ‘prevent’ it and how to treat it.
This, sadly, leads to a lot of misinformation. Not helped, of course, by influential figures promoting idiotic ‘cures’. I think we all know who I mean!
Appealing to the nerdiness within me, I am becoming obsessed with the daily briefing graphs and charts that are presented at the daily Downing Street press briefings. We’ve had transport regular transport figures, but now we get to see Apple users’ directions searches! How exciting! Especially as getting data out of these companies is difficult under normal circumstances. Now, given a pandemic, we get all the data we want.
Whilst it has been great to see the data presented like this, it’s also possible to lose sight of the fact that behind some of these graphs are real human tragedies. We must remember that we communicate to discover stories about each other. When this is all over, I hope people write the stories of the wonderful people we’ve lost to this horrific virus.
