The year 2020 brought upon unexpected changes into our day to day lives. The Coronavirus outbreak forced us all to retreat to our homes in an effort to survive the global pandemic. Against the darkness of the COVID-19 storm, we stood firm with our desperate attempts to get acquainted to and navigate through the new normal and digital played the greatest part in that transformation. As the epicenter of the new COVID-19 outbreak shifted from country to country, each of the places saw similar actions to try containing and mitigating the virus through lockdowns & social distancing.
Within mere months, the pandemic forced us to take an extraordinary digital leap in our everyday life and practices, including our work, our children’s education, shopping, learning, connecting with our loved ones and even relaxing. Let us throw some light on how digitalization helped and is still helping us navigate through the new normal.
- We Learned to Learn Digitally
With the spread of the pandemic, almost all cities implemented strict lockdowns, shutting down schools, colleges and workplaces. This resulted in most people taking to the internet to communicate, interact and continue with their job responsibilities from home.
Children learnt to attend online classes, college students took lectures online & some even opted for remote/work from home internships and a few of us took this time to learn something new through online courses, be it cooking or a new skill.
- We Worked Digitally
With offices, factories and industries shut, we all adapted to work online. While most companies transformed their model to digital, some brick & mortar businesses also adopted the hybrid model to cope with the changing times. Corporate workers worked online, teachers took classes online, entertainment shows were shot & telecasted remotely and even doctors treated patients online.
- We Connected Digitally
With restrictions on public gathering and for the sake of our loved ones, we also learnt to connect online. We saw online marriages happening with people who were stuck in different cities recite their vows infront of screens to each other. Daily gossip sessions were now happening on zoom calls. Friends and family all learned how to video call, send text messages and even group video calls. While nothing could beat the hug or physical touch of a loved one but we found warmth through our phone and laptop screens.
- We Shopped Digitally
While online food ordering already being a norm, many businesses came forward with their own home delivery services to accommodate the needs of people & keep their businesses running. We ordered everything online from groceries, medicines, gym equipment, oximeters to even medical equipment for emergencies. Digital ecommerce sites became our new best friends & made full use of UPI gateways to make cashless payments.
- We Relaxed Digitally
While some of us spent our free time by playing online games with our friends, some of us learned to relax and rejuvenate digitally too. With counselling going digital, many of us who felt their anxieties rising, connected with a counselor online. We took yoga classes, Zumba classes, painting classes, cooking classes, dance classes, sewing classes, art & craft classes…all digitally. Many of us also found solace in binging on our favourite shows & series after a long day of work.
- We Fought Together Digitally
As the number of coronavirus cases rose & the coronavirus second wave engulfed India in the recent months, we all stuck together as a community & helped each other out to fight it. People asked for help in their dire times through social media, complete strangers helped each other through social media, oxygen cylinder & plasma was donated totally on the basis of social leads, absolute strangers came forward on social media to help out COVID-19 affected people. From cooking them meals, helping with grocery shopping, donating funds for treatment to even walking and fostering their pets if they couldn’t. We are helping each other in ways we never thought we would and this way we’ll sure come out victorious of this nefarious battle with a virus.
The pandemic is being seen as a large-scale test case for the efficacy of these digital technologies, all of which will become permanent fixtures and result in long-term improvements for many industries. While in the time of crisis we, as consumers, learn to adopt the digital ways, businesses must also completely embrace this digital wave. There’s a chance that new challenges and possibilities will surface with greater urgency. Any digital transition roadmap that does not provide value at every step must be reimagined. The key is to keep experimenting and innovating with digital solutions at the forefront for the greater good.