Even as the devastation of the coronavirus mounts, there’s something to be gleaned in looking across the post-COVID-19 horizon. We’re definitely not out of the woods, and stay-at-home orders as well as social distancing requirements and recommendations have plunged us into a new normal — one that is seeming to become less temporary as far as tech is concerned.
While we’ll undoubtedly see the return of Monday night football and weekend bar gatherings, tech has forever changed the way we’ll work and live after the coronavirus. Here are six tech trends that you’ll be seeing much more of in the future.
1. Virtual Experiences
Forced isolation has compelled the closure of many experience-based locales like museums, art galleries, and even gyms and fitness studios. But locations using a little ingenuity have found ways to bring activities straight into the palm of our hands. Museums and art galleries have begun to create digital experiences — and some already had them available. Even some large events have taken to virtual measures, which not only cuts down travel for guests as well as often exorbitant hosting costs — it also allows the event to reach a bigger audience. Though entirely replacing experiences and activities with digital interfaces is unlikely, we’re apt to see more hybrid events and experiences where people can either congregate in person or choose to experience it from their couch.
Free Virtual Museum Tours: The Louvre: Explore Egyptian antiquities, medieval times, and even artworks by Delacroix and Rembrandt. The Vatican: Never been to the Sistine Chapel? Here’s your 360-degree virtual tour.
2. Telemedicine
Showing up to the hospital or a doctor’s office is where you go to get better. But now, those that can forego an appointment are doing so with the intent of avoiding sickness. Moreover, doctors are wanting to protect themselves and their most vulnerable patients from potential disease transmission. Elective and non-emergent surgeries across the world have been cancelled, and now, patients in need of non-emergent care are seeing their doctors in a new way. Telemedicine has been in existence for a long time — in fact, NASA began researching how to use video for remote medical diagnoses as early as 1974. While a small number of patients may have used the service before, others are just now becoming enlightened by the ease of video medical appointments and the convenience of not having to leave their homes. Some individuals will continue to prefer physical appointments, but if telemedicine was waiting for its big break, this was surely it.
3. Mobile Workforces
Across the world, companies have been forced to board up workplaces. Many employees that can still work only have one option — to work from home.
The traditional workplace spins on a 9-5 wheel and has for many years. Even with studies showing that companies with less restrictive measures (more flexible working hours, the ability to work from home, etc.) can reap more benefits — including profits — changes have been slow-moving.
Now, the coronavirus has forced companies to change their entire system of work in as little as days. Not sure what Zoom is? Well, you had better learn in an hour. How are we going to keep track of our goals and milestones? Asana to the rescue.
The big takeaway for companies that have needed to go remote is that many will see that a mobile workforce is not only feasible — it makes sense. Moreover, it cuts overhead costs drastically, allows for more profits, and maybe even more importantly, makes for happier employees.
4. Collaborative, Open-Source Solutions
When the entire world has a common enemy, there’s no time for division. While much of science and technology has functioned like the arms race during the Cold War, which led to competition and a sprint where each side (the U.S. and Russia) clung secretively to each’s new technology, the race for a COVID-19 cure has been a more collaborative effort. For the good of humanity, scientists are working together and sharing efforts and knowledge. While competition will not come to a halt in a post-COVID world, it took a pandemic to show us that coming together and collaborating to solve the world’s toughest problems is better in the long run.
5. A-Commerce
The food delivery industry has grown by 300% in recent years. And while contactless delivery has become an option for many popular food delivery services such as Uber Eats, there are also methods in the works that won’t involve any human interaction whatsoever — instead, AI will magically deliver dinner to your door.
Autonomous vehicles that deliver food from the storefront to your home are already in trials. In 2019, Dominos and Nuro teamed up to develop a fleet of narrow driverless cars about half the width of a typical sedan. The pilot program launched in Houston, Texas, and is being monitored closely.
6. Location Monitoring
Maybe the eeriest tech trend moving forward is location tracking applications. Countries taking maximum precautions against the spread of COVID-19 have quickly developed tracking applications and have either asked or forced their citizens to download the apps so the government can monitor their location and inform citizens if they have come into contact with a coronavirus-positive individual.
China and Russia are two countries forcing those with a positive COVID-19 test to employ the applications. But even with privacy concerns, app developers urge that it is about saving lives and allowing people to be aware of their options. “Through more knowledge on their exposure, app users are able to make more informed decisions on when to self-quarantine or seek testing when experiencing symptoms,” explains Alina Clough, a Harvard researcher who worked on a location-tracking app, Private Kit.
Summary
While we haven’t completely staved off boredom, tech has come to the rescue in more ways than one to hold our hand through these difficult times. It’ll be interesting to watch these trends blossom in the future — and they’re surely here to stay.
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