Emerging from The COVID-19 Shadows
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Emerging from The COVID-19 Shadows

We wrote about ‘things never being the same’ and the fact that COVID-19 was in so many ways an accelerant for digital developments both at home and across the planet. The developments have been significant – even in my small world.


We have become cashless (now plastic);
We bank online;
We purchase travel tickets on line and use QR codes;
We now use APPS for just about everything;
We buy our concert tickets on line and use QR codes;
We read paperless newspapers and magazines;
We teach online with hybrid options;
We buy our coffee with an APP;
We drive silent cars that have hybrid options – in fact some are even driver less;
We can have our groceries delivered;
We shop extensively online;
We avoid conversation at the dinner table in preference to using our phones;
We use our phones to navigate our way through cities and countries;
We play our music on our phones;
We email constantly – from our phones;
We SMS and WhatsApp profusely;
We choose out partners online;
If we lose our phone we can track down on line;
We can rent international apartments on line and with an APP.


These things were on the horizon in 2019 and in some cases were already in place – but the pandemic did in fact accelerate many of the developments. No doubt we would have reached the current points – but it seems to me we have made leaps and bounds in a relatively short period of time – and the pandemic was a player – essentially an important player in the grand scheme of things.


I am not sure I would like to experience a second pandemic in my lifetime but I so acknowledge the impact and accelerating nature of what has happened around me largely endorsed by hygiene and health demands.

 

Emeritus Professor Greg Whateley is the Deputy Vice Chancellor of UBSS and Vice President (Academic) at GCA.