For those of you feeling a little stir crazy, there could be a new past time to keep you calmer. A new craze has caught on creating an ideal fantasy world to avoid Covid-19 woes. The fantasy? Join an ant colony. Yep, I said ants. (1)

Ants On Facebook Creator

According to creator, Tyrese Childs, his “ant colony” has grown to 1.7 million members. What started out as a bizarre Facebook role-playing group has become a craze attracting people of all ages. (1)

“For some reason, we get a big kick out of it,” says 40-year-old mother of three Katie Parker. She says she visits the group for a few minutes every day with her 10-year-old son Declan. As with a real colony, members live to serve their queen. They share images and make comments related to being ants. (1)

Ants On Facebook Posts

In one example, an image of an ant-covered cup of pink ice cream is shared with an invitation for fellow members to bring treats to the queen. It created over 18,000 comments from members such as “Nom” and “Slurp”. (1)

Group creator Childs has tried to maintain the integrity of their page by avoiding Covid-19 references. “We have filtered out all the COVID-19 posts so it’s like an escape,” he says. Along with his team of administrators, they also introduced rules such as remaining respectful. They also discourage political and human issue discussions. (1)

Ants On Facebook Role-Playing Group

The group is one of over 70 role-playing groups on Facebook. They offer an escape from the everyday pains of the world, making them even more popular in the age of the pandemic. The group started out with just 100,000 members. Other groups range from a few hundred to over a million. (1)

“Role-playing can help with emotional regulation and resiliency,” says Sarah Lynne Bowman, an adjunct professor of humanities at Austin Community College in Texas. These groups can be an excellent coping mechanism for people. (1)

Ants On Facebook Pre-Pandemic

I should point out that many of these groups have been around pre-pandemic. Lockdown however, has attracted more followers looking for ways to keep sane. “We have so many user requests and pending posts that this has become a job for me,” says Childs of his group. “I think people are searching for something to do right now. You can only scroll so much on social media.” (1)

Ants On Facebook Psychologically Safe

According to Andreas Lieberoth, an assistant professor of media psychology at Aarhus University in Denmark, role-playing during these times is not surprising. It provides interaction when social distancing is in place and helps people meet their need to be with others. The ants offer a highly focused, worry-free life that is appealing during the crisis. It also provides a sense of purpose. (1)

“The ant group sounds like a psychologically safe space to meander with nothing scary and nothing political and nothing coronavirus-related,” he says. “I don’t know if ants get COVID, but in this colony, they don’t.” (1)

Lieberoth’s current research focuses on stress during the coronavirus pandemic. Common worries include the societal impact of the pandemic, as well as concerns over families, jobs, and communities. (1)

“As more of the world seems like something you can’t predict, we try to ignore things that we can’t control, and we try to find spaces where things are relaxing, like gardening or hiking or playing games,” he says. (1)

Ants On Facebook Creates Hive Mind

“We are learning right now that the Western ideals of self-sufficiency won’t be able to serve us, especially with challenges in a health pandemic and climate change,” says Bowman. “So I find it interesting that a whole bunch of people want to be in a group with a hive mind.” (1)

Making it an even more attractive prospect, there’s also a charity twist added to the mix. Group administrator John Kennedy decided to leverage the throngs joining the group to make it more worthwhile. “I was thinking, ‘How do we make this a good thing?'” he says. “I’ve seen things get really big, and then I see things die very fast.” As a result, the group sells “ant-spired” merchandise with 50% of the proceeds going to a nature conservancy. (1)

Meanwhile, back at the Parker home, the mindless relief from coronavirus stress is welcome. “I think the reason we like this is because it’s mindless relief. It is silly,” she says. “I love knowing that there are about 2 million people out there who get a kick out of this, too.” So, ants huh? Why not? (1)