Diary Entry of a Person Using Animal Crossing to Cope With the Existential Dread of a Global Pandemic Sarah Schneebaum Follow Mar 26 · 3 min read

Dear Diary,

I impulse bought a Nintendo Switch right before the quarantine because Animal Crossing New Horizons just came out and it looks like I’m going to be home for the foreseeable future. Was this a good financial decision? We’ll see. But right now it feels like I literally bought a one-way ticket to a deserted island where I can catch fish and bugs all day, which is the exact type of chill digital escapism I’m looking for right now.

The kind of energy I need right now

I can’t really turn to my usual escapism scrolling on social media. Twitter is…not great right now. It makes my anxiety spike and even though it might be the place I get a lot of my news (thanks, journalist Twitter), the news right now is not as appealing as shaking branches off trees to craft into fishing poles. Yes, diary, I’m still making time to stay on top of the latest recommendations and social distance, as is my obligation as a marketer and as a regular human being keen on keeping my friends and family alive. But I can’t bring myself to spend as much time in the depths of Reddit when we’re experiencing a global pandemic.

If missing a beetle doesn’t send you spiraling, nothing will

I guess I’m turning to a new coping mechanism. I’m adding stuff to the museum that’s run by a bug-hating owl. I’m reading horrifying stories about people continuing to attend public gatherings of more than 10 people. If a fake island with a fake tulip garden is the thing that’s going to keep me sane, then I’m going to keep going there. I mean, it’s not like I’m the only one. Between Tweets about which celebrity is exposed and which city is on lockdown, I’ve seen so many (hilarious) screenshots and videos of everyone else on their own island, finding their own lil escape and catching their own fish and bugs and having island parties with friends they’re not allowed to see in real life. What better way to build a virtual community than on a deserted island where nobody can see your unorganized closet in the background of a Zoom call? A little human/animal contact satisfies extroverts who need interactions, introverts who prefer it quietly, and those of us that live in the middle of that Venn Diagram.

The wholesome content is off the charts

So now my free time is spent on an island I named after my dog. I work for a Tanuki and his nephews who built me a house and give me instructions on how to make wooden furniture in exchange for helping find wood and iron nuggets. I can pay off my house loan whenever I want, or not at all, which is a much better payment plan than the 5% interest on my student loans. I can sell infinite fish, bugs, fossils, flowers, and furniture that I crafted myself to pay off my house or buy even more stuff to furnish it. I am richer in Bells than I am in dollars, and it is comforting to me. I can chat with a cat and a squirrel and a rhinoceros that lives on my island, and it is comforting to me. I am finding solace in the simple island life I’m choosing to live instead of dwelling in the chaotic uncertainty of the global climate.

If you need me, I’ll be virtually vibin’ on island time.

Sarah