11 minute read
4.4. Case Of Lock-down Due To Pandemic COVID-19
from Celebrating Togetherness - Through Avenues of Interaction, bringing people together
by Saksham Garg
4.4.1 MAJOR SHIFT TO DIGITIZATION
As per a report released by GOOGLE, how dependence on digital increased during lockdown.
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Time spend on smartphones in the week 3 of COVID-19 disruption inched towards 4.5 hours per day, online video accounted for more than 70% of India’s total data usage.
CRED, a transparent and fully digital platform of highly trusted individuals, brands and individuals, conducted a study on the credit card spends of its members across Delhi, Mumbai & Bangalore. There were basically two insights gathered. The first being purchase decisions driven by health and safety. The second insight indicated a shift to digital means, spends that have been moved online, have surpassed pre-COVID spending levels. Sharp spikes were recorded in online grocery and e-commerce. E-commerce spends surpassed, pre-COVID levels post the lockdown across all the cities. Delhi spends grew to 135%, while Mumbai was at 133% and Bangalore at 124%. In another study conducted by Hannah Llyod Jones, Dsitrict-tech.com,
Meditation and Wellness Apps have had a surge in downloads since the outbreak of coronavirus. With in-person social interactions out of window, people have been utilising technology to socialise with their loved ones. In times full of despair and anxieties, the need of interaction
increased manifolds, thus a major shift was seen in usage of social media and communication apps for mental well-being and satisfaction.
‘Houseparty’, a group video chat platform, topped the charts on the app stores in 17 countries.
Google’s Duo has received 10 million new sign-ups in just few weeks.
4.4.2 IMPACT ON INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS
22 March 2020, “...to pay respects to their huge service to the nation during such trying times, all citizens should acknowledge and salute their efforts by standing in the balconies and at the doors of their houses and clap or ring bells for five minutes as a show of appreciation.” April 5, 2020, “...millions of Indians across the country switched off lights at their homes and lit candles, diyas or turned on mobile phone torches Sunday night, responding to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s appeal to show the nation’s “collective resolve and solidarity” in its fight against the coronavirus pandemic.”
“You may be alone at home but 130 crore people are with you,” said P.M. Narendra Modi Though very cliché but a classic example of unity in diversity was observed during the pandemic, when the prime minister asked the people to perform certain activities. People participated whole heartedly, was of course a reason to extend their gratitude towards the warriors, but somewhere down the mind, it was also a sense of communication and belongingness which they felt. Distant, yet in-person social connection was observed when people came out of their house to perform the activities.
Fig. 26: People Connecting during lockdown via video calls Source: SeanShot/Getty Images
Humans have evolved to be a social creature and wired to live in interactive groups. Being isolated from the family, friends and colleagues can be unbalancing and traumatic for most people and can result in short or even long term psychological and physical health problems. Recent findings help to elucidate how human interactions are changing in the age of coronavirus.
As COVID-19 continued to spread, more and more people stayed at home. This new reality had friends, families and colleagues communicating exclusively online. The problem is that online interactions can make feel disconnected and lonely, as discussed in first part.
Though LOCKDOWN had various negative impacts, a most important aspect was realised.
THE NEED TO CONNECT!
Fig. 27: Articles, indicating, increase in the use of digital platforms for communications
“Microsoft Teams and Google Hangouts Meet both jumped in the rankings. Zoom Cloud Meetings saw large numbers of downloads in the US, UK and across Europe. Zoom was downloaded 14 times more than its 2019 Q4 weekly average in the U.S.; 20 times more in the UK; 22 times more in France; and a staggering 55 times more in Italy. (The higher numbers are in areas that began lockdowns earlier.)
During the same period, Hangouts Meet saw 30 times the weekly level of downloads compared to the last quarter of 2019 in the U.S., while Teams saw an 11-fold increase.”
App Annie’s Lexi Sydow in the blog post
Fig. 28: Articles indicating, how lockdown brought people closer
After studying the importance of Interaction and its various aspects, it becomes really
important to understand the people opinion for the same.
Though we studied the importance of personal interaction over digital interaction.
Lockdown played a very big role, in making people realise the need to connect and importance of interpersonal relationships.
As people felt the uncertain timelines for the length of social isolations, people felt the need of to connect with each other to avoid social isolations. The technology of course broke the geographical barriers and fostered the ability to work and socialize. The technology offered a great support for the need of interactions, otherwise the lockdown might have become a reason of increased mental issues and social isolations.
Based on the above studies, a Google Form Survey was conducted with the intent of understanding impacts of lockdown on the changes in the mode of communication and interactions. In order to understand the drastic shift of interactions, physically to virtually, how it affected the interpersonal relationships, various questions were asked.
SOCIAL CONNECT
A GOOGLE FORM SURVEY SUMMARY
WHAT DID YOU MISS THE MOST IN LOCKDOWN ?
Intent of this survey is to understand the impact of lock-down on Human to Human relationship.
TOTAL RESPONSES RECORDED : 247
Fig. 29: Images of Google form Survey (Page 47-63)
Observation.
GOOD POINTS:
Out of the responses recorded, most of answer consisted of the opinion of sense of belongingness, safety and security, shares amenities, and great opportunities of human interaction. Another point was that was mentioned by various people is approachability, the way people are dependent on each other, people can approach each other as and when needed for the support.
BAD POINTS
Most of the opinions revolved around lack of privacy in the community way of living, freedom, infection spread problems etc.. Another opinion of being judged constantly by the people was also raised by some of the people.
Observation.
GOOD POINTS:
Out of the various response, the highlighted ones included, ‘lots of me time’, privacy, enjoyment of all by oneself, and least distraction.
BAD POINTS
The bad points for individual living included, opinions like ‘creeping in of loneliness at times’, getting bored, difficult to find people when help and support is needed, less interaction with people etc..
Observation.
As discussed also in the previous part, a sudden increase was seen in the use of social media platforms specifically the use of video calls. People shifted from rarely using to almost daily using of video calls to connect with their loved ones. This proved the need of social connect and interaction is a must for the people, in this case explained how people shifted to a new means and satisfied their needs.
Observation.
The point proved the need of social connect as 82.2% (BLUE) of the opinions stated that they shifted to online means of interaction because of the need of interaction. They could not meet their near and dear ones in-person. Also some people replied by stating that they didn’t felt the need of video calls that much, as they might be living with their loved ones or their were reasons related to work.
Observation.
A lot of responses included activities, which actually needed a physical space, or were done while meeting in person, most of them had a new way which the individuals were exploring. Apart from that, responses included, activities related to office work, educations or some kind of other activities which they explored. In the responses of usage of mode interactions, majority of answers about 66%, were interaction though WhatsApp and Video calls
Observation.
When asked about the need of interaction in-person, not much difference was seen in the range of answer pre or post lockdown. The need of personal interaction before lockdown is frequently as recorded. Where as after or during lockdown, the percentage of answers is focussed almost equally upon frequently and very frequently. In the next question, it becomes clear by the opinions of the people that, they are more inclined towards Non-Virtual modes of interaction over Virtual Interaction. This makes clear that how much ever people are involved in using the online means to communicate, at some point of time, there is need to interact with one another in-person, face to face, to make the communication more efficient, and understanding.
Observation.
In order to understand various aspects of interpersonal relationships, this question was put up. The intention was to understand people point of view on the various aspects of personal interaction and digital interaction, which is prevailing right now. The responses clearly stated that people are in-terms of emotional quotient and connect, are more inclined towards personal interactions, which is in-person. Though digital interactions have connected us globally, as discussed before, there are some limitations to it.
Observation.
‘A tight hug’, ‘HUGSSSS’, ‘Hug them tight!’ , ‘Can’t Express’, ‘Party’ , ‘Talk’ These are some of the common responses which were recorded from this very open ended question. A hug is a very basic form of sharing feelings, interactions and connects immediately with the person emotionally. The lockdown on one side had larger negative consequences, it has surely brought the people close and made them realise, how important is for a person to CONNECT.
A fun question was added at the end of survey to understand the importance of the role that social media platform played during lockdown, to keep us sane throughout. It helped people to connect seamlessly, entertain via various OTT platforms.
Conclusion.
Technology played a important role in global communication, where Twitter was seen active sharing grievance of the affected people, and help could be delivered. Instagram, Google Duo, Whatsapp, Facebook, Zoom, Google Meet, Netflix, Amazon, Hotstar etc., became part of our daily lives, for us to remain socially active, to remain mentally healthy, as it fulfilled the basic need of interactions.
...the reason, I believe, is that we all need to feel connected. Study after study reports that as social animals, humans need each other. When I think of my own experiences, it’s amazing how connecting with someone, even briefly, can give me what I need to soldier on. For example, there are times I’ve felt as described above, and have been moping around at home. My phone rings. My impulse is to not answer it, but for some reason I do, and I hear a good friend’s voice on the other end. She’s just calling to say hello. We chat about nothing important for about five minutes, promise to get together soon, and say our good-byes. My spirits have been lifted. I even smile as I remember something my friend and I just joked about. I decide to push myself and I get out of the house to take a walk. Some people smile at me as we pass and I smile back. I compliment a passer-by on her sweater and stop to pet someone’s dog. Byrrive home I am feeling much better than I had been feeling before my phone rang. ”
from the diary of Janet Singer, author of Overcoming OCD: A Journey to Recovery, recovered from OCD and became an advocate of OCD awareness.
We often think of connecting with others as having heart to heart talks, or open about hard to discuss feelings or events, this is certainly connecting, and it is importance for all of us to do at times.
DAYNA YORKS,
of the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine.
