A few years ago, a new “trend” emerged as a number of entities, enterprises, innovation hubs etc. introduced a ground-breaking practice: online events; instead of holding actual physical events like meetings, trainings or interviews, they organized the activities as online-events. It wasn’t the best way to attend such an activity, but at least it would break the distance barriers. Especially multinational companies have been investing heavily in this approach in order to reduce the travel costs for their employees. Of course, this practice did not start as the most preferable one, but its momentum started growing.
Not surprisingly, the global pandemic of COVID 19 and its consequences had an immense impact on the digital everyday activities. The lockdowns that were imposed on most of the countries globally boosted the notion of remote working. The general idea of doing everything online became easy, appealing and accessible to everyone; what is needed is a smartphone, a laptop or a tablet, and a relatively stable internet connection. The fields of education, teleworking, online shopping, communications are basic examples of the digital transformation that were not caused by, but were severely boosted by the effects of the Coronavirus.
Despite its negative aspects, this “digitalization” of everyday life can offer certain opportunities. Online learning, for example, has made education open to everyone, regardless of one’s age, location, and academic background. The coronavirus pandemic shifted working conditions, shopping habits and social relations into a previously unknown dimension, and formerly reluctant people to engage in digital skills in order to establish or maintain working and/ or family bonds etc.
To conclude, it’s important to be able to spot an opportunity where there is one. And for some, it’s safe to say that 2020 is the year that digitalized the world. After the first shock and the time it takes to adapt to the situation, the real question is: will this digitalization become a temporary effect of a temporary situation, or is this the beginning of a new era?
