After Covid-19, What’s Next?

The covid-19 pandemic transformed the world in a small amount of time. Our daily routines were paused temporarily and abruptly. The things that we usually do like going to work every day, taking our kids to school, going to the gym, attending our everyday classes or even simply walking on our neighborhood were suddenly replaced by other activities. People became concerned with the news. We are always finding ourselves checking covid-19 online polls. We are using our mobile apps more and finally realized how important and convenient they are. The things that we usually do in person, like shopping, banking and ordering food, we are forced to do online now as our choices became very limited. A few weeks of lockdown have actually changed most of us. We now have more time to clean our homes, organized our closets, be mindful with what we eat (we now do the cooking because we have more time), play with our children (and enjoy it as much as they do), and get to talk and spend more time with our family.

One may wonder how a massive crisis like covid-19 would change the world after we have resolved it. I would say online communication will be preferred than meeting up with friends or business partners. Video calls will be the norm when we want to bond with our relatives. Much of our innocence and sense of safety will be lost. We will prefer to stay at home than attend gatherings. We used to seek the comfort of  human presence but now we will be more comfortable in the absence and would rather talk to people on the internet than in person. Online courses will be the better choice than having to commute to school every day. And in case we’d find ourselves having a hard time with our lessons, we won’t request a tutor to come to our house, we will hire a virtual one. Medicines will be ordered online and will be delivered to our homes. The government may finally realize that voting online is the wiser and more efficient option. Perhaps we will be more serious and selective when it comes to voting government officials too. We will choose candidates whom we think can better handle calamities and adversities and have the heart to really serve. Transactions that were previously prohibited and were rarely done on the web will now be allowed, like getting a drivers license or renewing one. Once again, science will reign and people will listen more to scientists and doctors as they gain more credibility. The sense of patriotism will change and instead of honoring just the military, the doctors, nurses, and other members of the medical field and citizens who were in front during the pandemic will be our heroes too. And once again, the tech world will rule and might continue to do so for a very long time or maybe even  forever.

If we really think about it,  this catastrophe may have something to do with how the planet protects itself and how we should change as part of evolution. Because people are going to be staying home more, there will be less pollution; because people will opt to spend more time alone and less socializing, they’d have more time to actually do things that are of value. For one, I myself have actually started a new blog because of the lockdown and now learning how to code. Introverts will have the advantage as they are used to staying at home and be alone. And if you’ve ever heard or read about a topic on how autism becomes more and more ordinary, you’d think that along with this, being a part of evolution as well (as autistic people and those with autistic qualities are more productive and are the ones who’ve created most things that are of value to society), is the chance that this pandemic may have given us a new sense of proper socializing and may favor those who are autistic or have autistic qualities simply because they lack social skills and would be much more comfortable in communicating using the internet than doing so in personal. Hence, we will be more comfortable and accepting with diversity and be more accommodating to neurodivergents as society realizes their real value. The nerds and the geeks will no longer be the underdogs (though this has already started way before). In a world that is ruled mostly by those who are charismatic and social, the nerds, geeks and autistic who can hyper focus easily and not be disturbed by social recreations will be of more significance.

• 

I may have gone off-topic for some, but I think there’s a real sense in all these. Imagine a more high tech world where people choose to communicate through the web; where transactions like banking, paying your bills or getting a government ID can be done online; that instead of asking “Can we do this in person?”, one may ask, “Is there a way that we could’ve done this online?” Instead of asking, can I pay you when we meet?, it will be, “Can I just transfer the amount to your bank account?”

Personally, I think the kind of world where people don’t go out unless really necessary is the more ideal one. Senseless deaths due to accidents will be prevented; crime rate will go down; children won’t be influenced by their peers and will not have a hard time having a sense of identity; viruses won’t spread as quickly; people won’t be sick as frequently. The list may go on and on, but to sum things up, this kind of society is being asked by nature or the universe for us to constantly evolve for the better and to survive as a species.

When we started our business, we were exclusively online based. The need to set up physical shops was demanded by our clients. We were able to put up 4 shops and now we have 8, including those of our franchisees. But majority of our clients came from online. We have a very strong internet presence via social media and we have grown really fast because of this. No physical shop can beat the traffic the web can give. The physical stores served as order fulfillment centers and receiving zones. Now that we are experiencing this crisis, the queries that we get remained the same if not more, given that we are not using ads as much. The only problem is, we are on lockdown and we can’t really fulfill orders at the moment. But after the crisis and once the lockdown is lifted, we are predicting that the demand will be higher. The competition, most of which are mall based and are more focused on their brick and mortar shops will have to work harder to get clients as people will be more careful and will prefer to do transactions on the internet. While we are making our online presence stronger by creating a state-of-the-art website and starting to develop our own app, other shops are thinking of putting more shops in malls which I think is no longer advisable.

The cyber world will be more prioritized after this catastrophe, be it in personal or business pursuits. Industries with strong online presence will thrive. People will always find ways to do things on the web and will always choose such over physical dealings. Parents will be more wary to send their kids to school and won’t prefer doing so when they know they got a better and safer choice. People who choose to use technology in providing business will be on the advantage. It is much safer, faster and may prevent problems that we may have once thought as not to be taken seriously like the one we’re having now.