A Physical Alternative
The spread of the coronavirus has caused many of us to change our daily routine in a dramatic way – schools have closed, and many of us have been asked to work from home where possible. But how do we fill our usually busy eight to nine hour schedule? We’ve seen a huge increase in digital media usage as many turn to online streaming platforms for movies and tv series to pad out hours during the day, as well as many turning to mobile gaming and online betting platforms such as bonuscodebets.co.uk as an easy gaming escape – but the increase is also coming where it may not have been expected, as many turn to an older fashioned and more physical alternative.
Board Games
The first area we’re seeing an increase in sales during this time is for physical board and puzzle games – some numbers suggest that an increase in sales within the UK could be upwards of 240% than those before the lockdown. Some of the usual suspects are there such as Monopoly, Scrabble, and Uno as parents find a way to entertain their kids and even the older members of the family look for a way to pull everyone together in a common activity.
We’ve seen something similar happen recently with the explosion of Dungeons & Dragons into popular culture – Stranger Things really kicked this off, and then a number of big public figures getting involved in charity streams and bigger events as they ride the wave of popularity which has continued to grow.
Book Sales
We’ve also seen a large increase in book sales – the largest increases are in both fiction sales and children book sales. This is an increases that is being seen globally, too, as physical stores report fears of in-store shortages as those who have surfed through pages of digital content look for something fresh – and with the outbreak of COVID-19 deliveries of these books are being delayed, but it isn’t discouraging would-be readers as numbers continue to soar.
This increase, although in part toward ebooks and digital alternatives, has primarily been seen through physical book sales which is a surprise to many – although eBooks have seen a small bump after recent times of struggles, it seems the big boost here was primarily to soft and hardback sales.
The question may now be just how long this may last for following things returning to ‘normal’ – we’re seeing some restrictions within Europe begin to lift slowly as some return to work and as some businesses open up a little, but as this will come in stages it will still be a number of months until a widespread lifting of lockdown measures. We’re still seeing others such as the U.K and the US in the thick of things as numbers remain high – but will eventually see this find a turning point too for these. Experts are hoping to see a change of habit – families are exercising more together as cycling and family running see an increase, and with an increased physical presence with book sales and board games there are hopes that a digital alternative may stick around in a bid to reduce screen time.
As mentioned, it’ll take a while for things to get back to normal, a couple of months in many estimations and that’s when we see the majority return to their normal day to day of working nine hours per day with the kids back at school – but a changing of habit here may be just what we need – rather than returning home and sitting on social media in front of the TV, perhaps it’s time to encourage both ourselves and the kids to pick up a book instead.
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