In today’s circumstances, finding something entertaining to do at home is incredibly necessary. Scrolling through Instagram and Twitter doesn’t only get old super fast, but it also does not provide a get-away from the constant stream of coronavirus related content. It’s OK to not want to constantly be thinking about the pandemic! But what is there to do in the meantime? Recently I’ve been introduced to something called “citizen science” in my writing course. The idea is that science is for everyone, not just the professionals. One manifestation of citizen science is seen in initiatives by professional scientists to “crowd source” data or analytics from the general public.
Now, I’m sure you’re wondering what this has to do with quarantine, when sitting on the couch and eating snacks is 80% of your day and your typical routine (at least if you’re me.) You can actually partake in citizen science while doing both of those things, which is a super attractive quality if you ask me. Many citizen science projects are online and ask you, the citizen scientist, to do or offer some basic service that can be incredibly entertaining and a good way to pass time. For example, at this website, anyone can help identify wildlife in photographs taken in Kenya. Simply click through the images and offer your human intelligence on the presence of animals in the photos. Not only are citizen science projects a good way to spend time, but they also give you the feeling of accomplishing something—which can feel especially good during this period of isolation.
Zooniverse.org, as well as scistarter.org, help link you to good time-killing citizen science projects, a lot of which are super interesting and definitely exciting. The sense of helping and providing something to the world can be incredibly valuable to your mental health in times of stress. So, get to science-ing, people!