We get you—it almost seems impossible to share anything on Facebook or Instagram nowadays when you’re spending most of your time at home. Avid posters can’t post as much as they want to because there’s simply nothing to share. Quarantine has us stuck in our own homes, forced to go into social media hibernation. No travel photos, no fancy restaurants, and no gym selfies.
Although many haven’t left their homes since the pandemic started, a lot of us have used this as an opportunity to be productive, stay connected with loved ones, and learn new things. With a lot going on these days, it’s best to fill our feeds and stories with wholesome content. If you’re looking for ways to keep your social media alive and running, we’ve listed down alternatives to the most common posts people normally share before the beginning of the pandemic.
Travel Photos
Alternative: Throwback Travel Photos
Haven’t you always wanted to do something about the hundreds of travel photos you have in your phone? While traveling in the time of a pandemic is out of the question, there’s a workaround for when you want to inspire wanderlust among your friends. Throwback travel photos is a great way to look back at all of the places you’ve traveled to pre-pandemic and curate them in a way that would showcase the different cultures, people, and food that you’ve encountered. The trick is to sort through your photos and look for photos that stand out. Maybe it’s something you hadn’t initially considered sharing or something you missed during your first post which deserves a second chance. You can also edit your past videos and compile them into one video to capture those sweet moments of getting lost in a different country.
Food Photos
Alternative: Home-Cooked Meal Photos
Something many people learned how to do while stuck in quarantine was cooking or baking. Before, it’s quite common to see food photos taken while eating at fancy restaurants or coffee shops. Although food businesses have gradually started re-opening when the GCQ started, most of us still don’t want to risk eating outside with other people. The solution? You can simply replace your usual restaurant photos with home-cooked meals. (Plus points if you were actually the one who prepared it!) You can include the ingredients, recipes, or smart cooking tips in the caption or description of your images for the benefit of those friends who want to try making the same dish. You can also categorize your posts according to cuisines or breakfast, lunch, and dinner meals.
Gym Selfies
Alternative: Home Work-Out Selfies
Several gyms around the metro are still closed due to the ongoing pandemic. The only downside to this would probably be not having the right equipment or weights for your workout and not being able to have your personal trainer guide you. However, all is not lost when it comes to posting your workout pictures. If you’re the type to share post-workout selfies at the gym, a home work-out selfie will do for now. Youtube has many videos that can help you get in shape—it’s just a matter of choosing which one suits you best. You can find a spot in your house that’s big enough for you to freely move around then transform it into a mini gym. For the duration of your workout, you can snap a photo of yourself each day to document your day to day transformation and weightloss journey.
Nature Photos
Alternative: Plantito / Plantita Photos
House and indoor plants have become very in-demand during quarantine. Tending plants was a way for most Filipinos to keep themselves busy and cope with the pandemic. These plants are welcome reminders of the world outside of our homes. Plus, they’re mood-enhancing and can boost productivity and concentration. For people who are nature lovers, something they can focus their efforts toward is taking photos of their indoor plants. Beautiful plant photos are refreshing to the eyes and can bring joy to anyone’s day. You can go the minimalist route and shoot your plants on a simple background like your work-from-home desk. Another idea is to group them together in one spot of the house for an urban jungle feel.
Urban Architecture Photos
Alternative: Home Interior Photos
Since we rarely go outside, it’s quite difficult to snap photos of buildings and interesting interiors for our feeds. However, you can be creative about this when you’re staying at home. Pay attention to the objects and little spaces around your house that can make for interesting shots. Look for curious and fascinating patterns, shapes, symmetry, and colors and make sure to capture them. You can also do this during golden hour and play around with the shadows. Experiment with angles and focus on one object around the house that accentuates the background. Shelves, walls with portraits, wooden floorboards, windows, and stairs are some of the things you can start with.
Outdoor Activity Photos
Alternative: Indoor Activity Photos
Everything else today is pretty much done indoors. Ever since the pandemic started, we’ve been forced to live a completely different life and have practically cancelled any outdoor plans. This led to the rise of different indoor hobbies for everyone like crocheting, knitting, making homemade soaps, doing puzzles, model-building, and other types of DIY crafts. These hobbies can actually also be a source of great content for our stories or feeds. You can inspire others to try these indoor activities out for themselves by sharing what’s so special about them. Perhaps you can also provide a how-to guide for beginners with some of your posts. Take photos of the materials you’ll be using and document your progress. To keep things exciting, switch between these hobbies every week.
OOTD (Outfit of the Day) Photos
Alternative: MOTD (Mask of the Day) Photos
With work-from-home schemes in place for work, there’s barely any reason for us to dress up. Admit it: We’re all guilty of working in our pajamas all-day, especially when there are no conference calls or meetings. But if you find yourself missing taking OOTD photos, why not dress up yourself for a quick mirror selfie? You can switch things up by dressing up in formal, corporate, and casual attires for each day. You can even have themes for each week or dedicate a specific color every day. Better yet, since the pandemic is still ongoing, throw in some masks that go well with the attire for instant MOTD inspo.
Social media, which had once been an escape from the real world, is now the only way for us to connect with our family and friends during the pandemic. You can stay in the loop with what’s going on in the lives of the people around you and share stories of your own by registering to Smart’s Giga Stories. With this promo, you can get an additional 1 GB per day for Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok. Simply avail of the offer via *123# or the GigaLife App. For more information, check out this page.
