Today on March 24, the day when the COVID-induced nationwide lockdown turns one 12 months previous, as I make a journey down the reminiscence lanes, I realise how technology has performed a pivotal position in our lives previously one 12 months.
Before the primary outbreak of the COVID-19 virus in China’s Wuhan, nobody actually knew {that a} lethal virus would drastically influence tens of millions of lives throughout the globe and result in an inevitable surge of varied digital applied sciences.
Having confined ourselves to the 4 partitions of our residence after the Prime Minister introduced a 21-day nationwide lockdown to interrupt the chain of Covid-19 infections with a larger emphasis on social distancing measures final 12 months, all of us had a dismal and apocalyptic imaginative and prescient of the longer term which seemed unsure.
With the assistance of the technology, we began collaborating in digital conferences, make money working from home grew to become a brand new tradition and we progressively grew to become aware of phrases like “You are on mute” on Zoom, MS Teams and Skype conferences.
However, this elevated dependence on technology additionally led to undesirable stress as folks have been slowly getting used to the “new normal” as towards the purported consolation of the traditional work from workplace tradition.
The state of affairs noticed folks making changes as they handled points like poor web connectivity, energy cuts, and, in fact, a spike in app utilization on cellphones.
The COVID-19 pandemic compelled folks to undertake web and internet-based providers to speak, work together, and carry out their official duties from residence. It additionally introduced a noticeable surge within the time folks spent in watching content material on numerous OTT platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hotstar and so on. This was apparent as an increasing number of folks relied on these OTT platforms for recreation after a busy day.
Like different sectors, the schooling sector too skilled a sea change and digital studying grew to become a brand new pattern. More lecturers began taking on-line lessons and a number of other ed-tech start-ups like BYJU’s, Unacademy, upGrad, Vedantu flourished.
Students as their mother and father have been inspired to undertake the net mode of schooling and so they quickly grew to become aware of Zoom video requires receiving regular lectures and attending their exams on-line.
Coming to the growth within the on-line gaming phase, the pandemic triggered exponential progress in on-line video video games because the altering work-life patterns compelled many to play on-line video video games for leisure.
Several video video games specifically designed for kids grew to become vastly fashionable during these instances, probably as a result of lack of bodily exercise and the void created by the pandemic.
The pandemic had a extreme influence on human relationships since as a result of decreased bodily contacts, folks relied closely on tech-fuelled diversions to remain in contact with their household and associates.
Contrary to the custom of visiting one another during festivals, folks contacted one another by way of cellphones and video calls, courtesy the lockdown and journey restrictions imposed during the pandemic.
Physical interactions and social gatherings grew to become unimaginable and folks began using technology to socialize with their close to and expensive ones. Virtual pub quizzes and dwell streaming of favorite sport grew to become the brand new popcorn for folks.
Another phase that witnessed a serious growth is the net retail market, for instance, on-line grocery shops like Big Basket, Grofers, Biz Bazaar, Flipkart, Amazon, and so on grew by leaps and bounds during the pandemic.
Millions of households throughout the nation selected to order groceries through on-line apps moderately than visiting the close by outlets during the lockdown restrictions which additional factors to the position that the technology performed during the pandemic.
Big tech firms like Apple and Samsung resorted to on-line occasions for the launch, promotion, and sale of their flagship merchandise and performed webinars on Zoom calls and Google Meet.
Even the banking sector was not untouched as a result of pandemic and banks needed to re-strategize to adapt to the brand new regular and introduced in a number of on-line providers for the shoppers.
Looking on the well being sector, on-line yoga and health periods grew to become extremely popular as a result of apps like Cure.match and Fittr which introduced in dwell exercise periods which helped health freaks to pursue their ardour even during the lockdown. Lots of people bought health tools to train at residence with the assistance of technology.
As it’s stated that there are two faces of the coin, technology too will be an open-ended sword as we got here throughout a number of situations of cybersecurity breaches during the pandemic.
In the identify of varied sale presents made by the e-commerce platforms, hackers lured customers by creating spurious hyperlinks and there have been phishing assaults that created a large number for these e-commerce firms.
While there is no such thing as a doubt that technology has change into an integral a part of our each day lives during the pandemic, it may be a boon if used properly. But, on the similar time, we have to perceive that an excessive amount of dependence on technology can even have a catastrophic influence on our well being and basic well-being.
