People are consuming more alcohol, smoking weed, playing video games, eating a lot of junk food, binge-watching Netflix and adult films more than ever before.

In a quirky irony that highlights the craziness of the times, liquor stores are open as they’re deemed “essential.” According to Nielsen, a nearly 100-year-old marketing research and ratings firm, studies show that “alcohol sales were up 55% in the week ending March 21.” Nielsen also found that amount of spirits sold—such as tequila, gin and pre-mixed cocktails— skyrocketed 75% compared to March 2019. Wine sales rose 66%, beer sales popped 42% and online alcohol sales grew by an astounding 243% from last year at this time.

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According to investment advice site Motley Fool, “During the first few weeks of the month, cannabis sales were soaring and spiked around the middle of the month as fears heightened that people would be confined to their homes in an effort to fight the coronavirus pandemic.” Marijuana sales are high in a number of states where it’s legal. . . .

Pornhub, if you can’t tell by its name, is a popular online adult film site visited by roughly 120 million viewers every day. Now that Americans are self-quarantining at home, Pornhub has seen a large rise in traffic—up 11.6%. . . .

According to Today, “Many Americans may find their bodies flabbier and less healthy when they finally emerge from the Great Quarantine of 2020.” Bloomberg reported that less people are consuming healthy foods and “are loading up on shelf-stable items from canned meat and soup to pretzels and Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, as they comply with orders to stay home.” Studies show an increase in the consumption of potato chips, Oreos, Spam, burgers, pretzels and other comfort foods. Psychology Today refers to the weight that will be gained as the “quarantine 15.”

During the week of March 16, U.S. consumers streamed 156.1 billion minutes of content. That was twice as much as last year at this time. Almost 30% of streaming was Netflix programming—including a lot of Tiger King—and 20% was YouTube viewership.

Due to school closures, kids and young adults—from elementary school to college—find themselves home. As you can imagine, video games are the go-to diversion and a way to play online and still socialize with friends. To capture the amount of time spent gaming, digital magazine Mic claims, “So many people are gaming in quarantine, servers are struggling to keep up.”

(Excerpt from Forbes.)

Let’s pray fervently for revival, for a great awakening in America and around the world like we have never seen before in history.