The 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic definitely shook up the world in many, many ways. It was heartbreakingly tragic for some, and unbearably lonely for others. It was in these dark times that we came to understand just how technology had the power to help us stay connected.
Kept Businesses Moving
Technology opened up avenues for businesses that simply were not an option before. In many cases, although certain options were technically available, they weren’t utilized widely until the pandemic made it a necessity. Delivery apps like DoorDash, GrubHub, and Amazon made it so people could continue to receive essentials without even going outside. People could use those same apps to support local businesses and restaurants. Companies could use Zoom, the conference call app, in conjunction with the computers that are now standard in everybody’s home, so that employees could work and communicate effectively without ever taking a step out the front door.
Maintained Contact With Family
The hardest part of the pandemic for many people was the separation from their loved ones. Many people had depended on daily contact with family, friends, and coworkers in order to keep themselves happy and in a good place mentally. While quarantine certainly wasn’t easy, it was doable thanks to technology. People would video call or audio call each other every single day. Family members would check up on each other to make sure that everybody was healthy. And this didn’t just happen in homes – senior living facilities generally make it easy for seniors to video call their relatives, and they adjusted accordingly. This was especially good since immunocompromised elderly people were not permitted to see anyone in person besides caretakers.
Gave Updates on the Outside World
In such a turbulent time, it was all too easy to become lost in your own anxieties about the world. Technology provided stable, consistent content that helped everybody know how everybody else was doing. This was, in some ways, a blessing and a curse – with news companies stoking the flames of many peoples’ anxieties, contributing to the politicization of the pandemic and the civil divide that it caused. But to those who possessed good media literacy, technology was a portal to a wealth of critical information.
Technology is, at its core, something that has been put in place to help us. And with necessity being the mother of invention, we saw an explosion of technology use during the pandemic. It’s too bad that it took a pandemic to force us to upgrade – but now, we understand ourselves and our society a little better.
Check out this article on how technology can improve experiences in healthcare!
