How quarantine turned people into DIYers?

Keywords: tools / DIY / pandemic / covid 19

The pandemic shocked all of us! We never thought with all the technologies we had, a global disease could threaten our lives on a such large scale. But there it was (and still is). In many parts of the world, people were ordered to stay in their houses. Restaurants and parks were immediately closed and outside activities were not a “thing” anymore. Then, all of us found ourselves with a lot of time at home!

People had different coping mechanisms to deal with the new situation. Some heated up their ovens and started baking cookies and cakes. Others did exercises at home and tried to use this extra time to become healthy and fit. These exercises gained popularity especially since gyms were closed. And one particular group of people found their interest in DIY projects. If you don’t know what a DIY project is, this is how Wikipedia defines it:

“Do it yourself ("DIY") is the method of building, modifying, or repairing things without the direct aid of experts or professionals.”

These DIY projects cover a wide range of activities; from making a rustic vase to giving makeovers to the old furniture and even repairing broken things in the house. Google trends show that between Feb 2019 till May 2020, the total number of searches for the keyword “home improvement” was steadily increasing. This truly shows how much people were invested in doing DIY projects during the lockdown.

However, people who turned to DIY projects had different reasons to do so. In the following paragraphs, various reasons why people did DIY projects are explored. Stay with us!

Embracing the creativity

As it was mentioned, during the quarantine people had a lot of time. And some of them were bored of just staring at screens, scrolling down Instagram or Twitter, and watching hours and hours of TV series and movies. This is why they became interested in DIY projects. Many claim that they had seen lots of DIY projects on YouTube or Instagram, but never tried them. The lockdown was a great opportunity for them to embrace their creativity and start making things with their own hands.

Many people were spending those difficult times with their children. If you have ever been stuck with a child for more than an hour at home, you know that they get easily bored. Trying DIY projects was a clever way for parents to entertain their children. Some parents who were more ambitious and probably had more technical skills took their projects to the next level and started making complete playgrounds or real-sized dollhouses in their backyard for their children! All in all, many people washed off their boredom by making themselves busy with DIY projects.

Becoming one’s own repairman

During the lockdown, people couldn’t go outside, and allowing other people or strangers to come inside could cause serious threats to their health. So how did people deal with their appliances that got broken? Many simply became their own repairman! They tried to figure out how things worked and searched where the problem was coming from. With the help of the Internet and many YouTube videos available, people slowly could get the knowledge needed to take care of basic repairs in their houses without needing professional assistant.

People first started doing their repairs themselves because they had to, but many found the ability to repair things by themselves such a rewarding and amazing experience that they started to actually like doing it. After handling the more necessary repairs, they went after the things that were broken for a long time like the old gaming consoles and the stereos that were just sitting in the basement. Many of the broken items that had been collecting dust for a while were rescued and restored, courtesy of the Covid 19.

Learning new skills

The extra time that the quarantine provided for people motivated many to start learning new skills. A great number of those who had a lot of time at home, remembered the hobbies that once they wanted to have and the lockdown provided them with enough time to pursue. The range of these activities varied a lot; from doing pottery to learning how to knit and even wood carving. People turned to tutorial videos to learn these new skills and practice them via DIY projects.

The pandemic is a scary thing, but some people have gained a lot out of this scary experience. Now that we have talked about why people started doing DIY projects, let’s see what were the effects of this increase in DIY activities.

Effects of Covid 19 pandemic on DIY-related activities

The first visible effect was the increase in sales in craft materials and of course DIY tools. Many craft material retailers saw a visible increase in their sales a week or two after the lockdown started. Of course, people didn’t personally visit stores themselves and mostly were shopping online. This boost in sales also happened for tools. To do DIY projects, people needed proper tools and this is why they started shopping for common hand tools such as pliers and wrenches and power tools like drills and jigsaws. Some of the more skilled individuals also purchased more professional tools like circular saws and angle grinders.

The other effect of people finding interest in DIY projects was an increase in the content created for a wide range of DIY projects. Some of the brands in the tool industry started publishing articles about necessary tools for DIY activities like an article from Ronix that talks about the must-have tools required to get started with DIY projects. Apart from the articles published in different blogs and websites, there was a notable increase in the content created specifically for social media platforms. Many influencers started making tutorial videos and shared them on their accounts to get more engagement from many of their followers who were invested in doing DIY projects at home during the lockdown.

The spread of the Covid 19 virus truly has had a lot of horrible effects on our lives, but it also has made us learn a thing or two. What do you think is going to happen in the future? Do you think people are going to do DIY projects long after the pandemic is over or do you think this is just a trendy topic right now and is going to be forgotten soon?