With the prolonged isolation of people required to combat the spread of COVID-19, there has come a big change in our daily lives. People are refraining from going out and socializing as they are reluctant to leave the house because of the virus scare. We call this ‘stay at home stock’ and it is drawing attention these days as a “benefit” of the COVID-19 outbreak.

  People in forced isolation are finding creative ways to enjoy spending time at home. Among them, Over The Top (OTT) and the gaming industry are expected to benefit off our increased stay at home. The Global Big Data Research Institute revealed results of an analysis they conducted, between February 19 and March 9, of four OTT services, including Netflix, Watcha Play, Tving and Wavve. Keyword searches related to Netflix more than doubled from 3,984 to 8,027 during the 4 week period. For Wave, the number of movie purchases in the last week of February hit an all-time high of 55,000. It also showed that the number of viewers increased by 6.1 percent from January 20 to March 1 over the previous month. As the amount of OTT usage increased, middle-aged people, who previously made up the smallest sales base, also discovered the convenience of such services. In addition, while the spread of the virus has hurt many companies, the gaming industry has not suffered much at all. According to the U.S. global game and app analysis company Sensor Tower, the number of mobile game downloads worldwide reached 4 billion in February. Likewise, the number of mobile game downloads in Korea rose 10.9 percent to 55 million this month. With people preferring to stay inside, the consumption of content such as games and other media enjoyed indoors has increased, which has greatly helped sales.

  The Education Ministry extended the shutdown of schools, as the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases and the death toll rose. College students were no exception. Everyone became ‘stay at home stock’ and spent more around the house. As a result, they too have discovered many different indoor cultural activities to stay entertained. Making Dalgona coffee and I Love Painting, are home-based activities that allow people to upload results to their social media accounts. This is particularly popular among college students. The next most popular activity is taking psychological tests. There are a variety of tests, including the Meyers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), a well-established personality test, and other lesser known, tests that reveal your personality such as the Forest Quiz, or the phone test and others that reveal you mental age. These tests are popular because of the spread of SNS, but also because people can check, read and understand their results without any knowledge of psychology.

▲ Making dalgona coffee in indoor culture caused by Corona 19 (Photo from Instagram)

  Other at home activities going viral include the 1339 donation campaign being run through SNS programs like Instagram. The 1339 donation campaign gets its name from the telephone number of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDCP). The campaign collects donations of 1,339 won for the KCDC through Instagram. Public figures, including celebrities, make personal donations accompanied by a sad heart emoticon. The word "donation" can sometimes be a little too much for ordinary people, including students, so by calling it 1339 and keeping the suggested amount reasonably low, the campaign has encouraged ordinary people to join in and help. The campaign mentions several well know partners and publicizes the latest public figure on board. The “next person to donate' publicity has made it easier for the campaigners to keep the momentum for donations going.

  COVID-19 social distancing and stay at home policies have forced citizens to get creative with their indoor culture. Everything is accessible via cell phones. While it is still too dangerous to resume socializing, we recommend trying the above indoor culture ideas to help ease any psychological anxiety you may be experiencing. We are all in this together, so everyone should join in on the stay at home fun and help contain the spread of Corona as soon as possible.

▲ OTT(Over The Top) and the game industry are expected industries as a benefit of Corona 19.(photo from enb news)