A couple days ago, I read a book, where history was not defined as chronicle, but as a series of rare bright events, that we perceive as abnormal. While, in fact, such events change our world and continue history more, then everyday life.
Covid-19 came into our life and will not leave it soon. Seems, that everything has already been written and said. But I propose to look at how it redesigns our lives in real time.
The COVID-19 pandemic has made major changes in our lives. Against this background, in particular, the digitalization process accelerated: within a few months, the number of people who work from home and shop on the Internet has sharply increased. At the same time, technologies appeared to stop the spread of the virus, which are essentially technologies for effective government surveillance of citizens.
The usual meetings were replaced by Zoom parties. Probably, everyone has visited at least one. Not to mention Zoom-birthdays, Zoom-proms, Zoom-weddings, and Zoom-all-all-all. No wonder the company earned more in the second quarter of 2020 than in the whole of 2019. In this situation, video calls began to be used not only for work and study, but also for leisure. At the beginning of the pandemic, online concerts were very popular. There were even online tours, online exhibitions, and online performances. But by the end of the year, this trend has lost its relevance.
In the spring of 2020, the world’s demand for psychotherapy has grown at a record high. The jump occurred in late March and early April, when the borders were closed and a self-isolation regime was declared. Sales of plant-based sedatives increased. In families, conflicts escalated, which had not surfaced before, because people were busy outside the house all day. Another stress factor was economic instability. Neurologists have found that people who are prone to anxiety and auto-suggestion began to detect false symptoms of the coronavirus.
The services went online. Cinemas, gyms and cafes, if they work, only in the fresh air.
Now people pay more attention to their relatives, take care of their own health and appreciate the time spent together. To be sure, the pandemic has given a dramatic boost to changes that none of us expected: appears new words in the lexicon, technology and medicine began to develop more rapidly.
The world has been exposed by drastic redesign. And we will see the consequences later.
